Governor Holcomb along with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security announced the continued expansion of state-sponsored firefighter training locations to eliminate “training deserts” across Indiana.
During a dedication ceremony of a newly built training site in Wabash, Holcomb also announced the next five locations set to receive training towers equipped with live-burn capabilities. Those next sites included Washington Township in Daviess County, Chrisney in Spencer County, Hartford City in Blackford County, Rushville in Rush County, and Paoli in Orange County.
In addition to training, many volunteer departments have been receiving personal protective equipment recently; sometimes replacing gear that was handed down from another department and could be more than a decade old. The $10 million investment will fund 940 complete PPE sets for 66 departments across Indiana.
Following the construction of nine designated training locations, Indiana Fire Marshal Steve Jones and the Indiana Fire and Public Safety Academy will evaluate any remaining funding for opportunities to expand existing training sites and leverage those resources for even more training access.
