Economic & Community
Development Division
Emergency Services
Central Carolina Community College's Emergency Services Training Center is one of the finest facilities in existence for the training of law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, and rescue services personnel. Its programs develop skilled responders, empowering them to act more effectively in emergencies.
From 2001 through 2009, the Center held more than 5,000 programs, both on- and off-site, with an enrollment of more than 80,000.
The college has offered emergency services training since 1964, when the first fire fighter class was held.
For years, there was no facility large enough to accommodate all the specialized training the college wanted to offer. Then, in 2000, the N.C. General Assembly provided $750,000 for the development of a regional Emergency Services Training Center. Lee County and the college committed $2.5 million from the 2000 N.C. Higher Education Bond Referendum to establish the Center at the former Sanford-Lee County Airport.
The ESTC occupies 116 acres, providing ample space for a wide variety of scenarios. The facility includes a classroom building and a live-burn building. An N.C. Highway Patrol VIPER tower at the Center is also used for rescue training. The two former runways are ideal for vehicular pursuit, precision intervention, motorcycle safety, and other specialized training.
In 2008, the Center was honored with the Training Prop of the Year Award from the N.C. Society of Fire Rescue Instructors for a movable tanker car scenario that simulates tanker car-vehicle accidents for training.
The Emergency Services Training Center will continue to offer high quality, even unique, training to emergency responders to make communities safer.