The Daily Herald has an article talking about a new proposed training facility for the fire service:

Elgin Community College has the go-ahead from Burlington trustees to build a satellite campus within the village limits — an $18 million project that will have an early focus on training first responders.

The Public Safety and Sustainability Center would relocate programs for police and firefighters to the 118-acre site on Plank Road, according to Sharon Konny, vice president of business and finance at ECC. Truck driving, energy management and sustainability programs would be run there as well.

“More than 80 percent of first responders in the U.S. are trained at community colleges,” he said. “This project will ensure that our local first responders learn and train at a first-rate facility.”

But not everyone is happy with plans for the new campus. Burlington residents have been concerned with a proposed outdoor firing range that Konny said is not part of the first phase of the project.

A “village” of shell buildings will be constructed to use for search and rescue training and in simulations for firefighters. The roads through the village can be used for truck driving students who are constrained on the main campus in Elgin, Konny said. The college is also considering geothermal wells and will get at least some of its power from a wind turbine.

The entier article is HERE.

thanks Chris