County Land Does Serve as Firefighter Training Facility!
fmand@wickedlocal.com
Updated Jun. 27, 2015 at 1:25 PM
PLYMOUTH – Looks can be deceiving. According to Duxbury Fire Chief Kevin Nord, the junked cars, stuffed dummies and variety of large metal and concrete structures on county-owned land between Camelot Drive and Long Pond Road are not signs of illegal dumping but, instead, serve as an important training site for regional firefighters. After reports surfaced last week that the property is the site of a strange dumping ground, county officials verified that the property had once been considered for a countywide firefighter training facility. The original plan, which called for a five-story tower, a burn building to practice forcible entries, classrooms and other amenities, never materialized. But according to Nord, who is president of the Plymouth County Fire and Rescue Training Association (PCFRTA), despite its appearance what remains is a valuable asset, especially for the county’s technical rescue team.
“In 2011, the PCFRTA entered into a license to operate a training facility,” Nord explained. “The first phase was constructed – a structural collapse prop. This prop was moved from Quincy, and site work and crane service to set it was done at great expense by private company donors,” Nord said. The county’s state-of-the-art technical rescue team – 50 firefighters representing all 27 municipalities in Plymouth County – train on this prop. “It is the only one in New England,” Nord said, speaking of two stacked bridge abutments that were placed on the site several years ago. “ It allows our career and call firefighters to hone their skills breaking concrete delicately so a victim is not killed on the other side of it. (The prop) allows breaching and cutting steel, concrete and composite material as well as lifting, and it can be reset so you are not bringing new bridge supports after every exercise. “ Nord holds out hope that the full training center will eventually be built on the same site, but acknowledged that can’t happen until the access issue is resolved. “I, along with all the fire chiefs, have been working with the county, the town of Plymouth and abutters for 10 years to develop the site for firefighting and rescue training,” Nord continued. “The holdup has been legal public access. ”If access is obtained by the county, Nord said, then his group has a plan and is ready to go. But what if that access is not obtained? Nord said his organization searched all over the county for another location and could find none that matched its needs as well as the one in Plymouth. “Nowhere in the county is there a site available to train our full-time and call firefighter staff to do a very dangerous and unique job. The closest site is Barnstable, and they charge us $1,000 a day with extra fees.” The Duxbury fire chief said the perfect place for this kind of training is in an area already zoned for commercial or industrial use and is easy to access, and yet situated in a way that it does not interfere with other businesses or impact residents. A property like that, Nord said, is often expensive. The Plymouth site offers easy access off Route 3 and, as a county-owned facility, should be relatively inexpensive to operate. “While we recognize to some this is an eyesore,” Nord said, “to many of us it’s a true training site for very dirty lifesaving work. “We aren’t responsible for the many beer cans, whiskey bottles and mattresses and TVs that get dumped there, but we are the ones that continually clean it up. We also consider ourselves the protectors of life, property and the environment, and we take that seriously and that at no time are any chemicals, oils or solvents left on the ground.” The real problem with the Plymouth location, in Nord’s eyes, is that it is effectively landlocked. To gain access to the training area they have to go through commercial property. The most direct access would be through Caleb Drive, but the owner of that property has denied them access, Nord said. Right now they are going through Kingstown Trucking’s parking lot. Owner Brad Cushing has given them permission to do so, but that’s not a permanent solution. “The story here is what the holdup is, why we are being denied access,” Nord said. “Further development of the site, the classrooms, burn buildings and tower will not be acted upon until permanent access is built.”
Original story posted on WickedLocal Plymouth on June 23, 2015, along with Chief Nord’s comments below
fmand@wickedlocal.com
Posted Jun. 23, 2015 at 10:00 AM
PLYMOUTH – The county has a logical explanation for the well-dressed effigy creased by tread marks and lying on the ground and for the stack of concrete and metal bridge segments topped, like a cherry on a sundae, with a junked car.
The old Pembroke fire truck that blocks the forest path in the shadow of the communication tower, as well as the concrete-filled compact car, several empty automobile gas tanks and assorted pieces of metal and concrete junk are also, likely, explainable.
“But you have to wonder about their regard for the town, never mind the environment,” environmental advocate Sharl Heller told the Board of Selectmen this week.
Heller came upon these surreal scenes in the woods directly north of the Pine Barrens Alliance headquarters off Long Pond Road.
It’s the so-called “wood Lot,” a 106-acre parcel owned by Plymouth County, where the county commissioners propose building a massive solar array.
Heller is president of the Pine Barrens Alliance, the headquarters of which is located just off the Eel River near the southern end of the county property. So, she ventured out to see for herself what the “wood lot” is really like.
At first, Heller was excited and also dismayed at the prospect of losing what she encountered as she walked north from the headquarters.
The majority of the parcel is pristine forest and meadow, she said. But, as she reached its northern edge, she discovered a real surprise.
“It’s a shocking mess, a trash dump,” Heller said. “I’ve been told it’s some kind of training area but, as you can tell from these pictures, there are bridge ramparts, derelict vehicles, a derelict fire engine.”
The explanation, offered by County Commissioner Daniel Pallotta and verified by Plymouth Fire Chief Ed Bradley, is that at a few years ago Plymouth County planned to build a fire training center there.
Some of the materials Heller saw were brought to the site in anticipation of that project that never happened.
“There’s all kinds of trash there now, and evidence of a lot of partying go on – beer cans, whisky bottles,” Heller said.
The old Pembroke fire truck seems to fit in with the explanation of a fire training area, but it sits a few hundred yards away from the other “equipment” on a narrow wood trail, blocking the way.
“You really have to question the responsibility of the county,” Heller told selectmen. “They created this public liability, this nuisance. It wasn’t here in 2011 (Heller had used Google Earth to look back in time). In 2011, she told the selectmen, there was only the communication tower.
“It just feels like the county has very little respect for the property. You have to wonder about their regard for the town, never mind the environment,” Heller said.
Heller concluded by suggesting that the board walk the site to see both the forest and the meadow, and the demolition materials and derelict vehicles that were left there when the hoped-for training facility didn’t materialize.
While several board members said they had been to the site, years ago, they took Heller up on her suggestion, agreeing to set a date and time to officially tour the property.
“I think Ms. Heller makes an excellent point,” Selectman John Mahoney noted, “and that we should post a meeting, invite the county commissioners and the county treasure, if they’d like to come along.”
In less than two weeks, he added, the county will hold its annual budget meeting, at which representatives from all 27 Plymouth County communities can vote on the county’s budget for the next fiscal year, and, he added, it’s likely those representatives will “rubber stamp” that budget.
“We should talk to those people, we should extend the invitation to our walk to the county advisory board,” Mahoney said. “They have no idea what goes on in this community, no idea what goes on between the town of Plymouth and the county.”
Follow Frank Mand on Twitter @frankmandOCM.
Chief Nord answers questions:
On Tuesday, June 23, 2015, Chief Kevin M. Nord wrote:
Hi Frank, I read your article and wanted to offer some assistance in correcting some of the lack of education regarding the training site and would be happy to describe that the site is very important to us and while we understand what it looks like it is intended to be a site of devastation.
Thanks
Kevin M. Nord, EFO
Chief of Department
Duxbury Fire Department
nord@town.duxbury.ma.us
www.DuxburyFIRE.com
From: Mand, Francis [mailto:fmand@wickedlocal.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 1:32 PM
To: Chief Kevin M. Nord
Subject: Re: Training site
Thanks Chief: Can you give some details.
1st, when was the last time you trained there.
What does that training consist of and why can’t it be done elsewhere?
We’ve been told this was supposed to be a regional training center with specialized equipment and structures: is that still a possibility?
Where else do you train- and what are those facilities like?
Why not construct a similar site in the Duxbury woods?
Were you prompted to contact me by any of the County Commissioners?
Thanks. Hope to hear back from you soon.
Frank Mand
From: Chief Kevin M. Nord
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 2:27 PM
To: Mand, Francis
Cc: Ed Bradley
Subject: RE: Training site
Thank you for getting back to me!
First let me tell you who I am and my involvement. I am the Duxbury Fire Chief and serve as the current Plymouth County Fire and Rescue Training Association (PCFRTA) President, the site was licensed to the PCFRTA, which is a 501 c3 charitable organization that includes membership from all 29 fire departments in Plymouth County. I also currently serve as the President of the Fire Chiefs Association of Plymouth County which represents all 29 fire departments. The PCFRTA has expended over 25 thousand dollars for conceptual plans for the training site. I along with all the Fire Chiefs have been working with the County, the Town of Plymouth and abutters for 10 years to develop a site for firefighting and rescue training. The hold-up has been legal pubic access. This is a whole other story for another article. Nowhere in the County is there a site available to train our fulltime and call firefighter staff to do a very dangerous and unique job. The closest is Barnstable and they charge us $1,000 a day with extra fees. The County and Town have worked with Chiefs and Training Association with this concept.
In 2011 the PCFRTA entered into a license to operate a training facility. The first phase was constructed which was a structural collapse prop. This serves as a heavy reinforced parking garage type prop. This prop was moved from Quincy and site work and crane service to set it was done at great expense by private company donors. The County has a state of the art technical rescue team, some 50 firefighters representing all 27 communities and city in Plymouth County. They train on this very special prop. This prop is the only one in New England. It allows our career and call firefighters to hone their skills breaking concrete delicately so a victim is not killed on the other side of it, it allows breaching and cutting steel, concrete and composite material as well as lifting. What’s special about this prop is that it can be reset so you are not bringing new bridge supports after every exercise. The class is taught to allow us to enter confined spaces, work in hazardous environment and with dangerous tools. You cannot replicate this type of training in a brick in mortar classroom nor with internet based training. The technical rescue team trains monthly and other teams have also been allowed to train there as well such as Army North. Eventually further development of the site, classroom, bathrooms, burn building will not be acted upon until permanent public access is built.
Now to answer your questions
- A tool drill was held their last month I would need to grab training records for exact date, the last full scale training that lasted over a few days was last October.
- A training site like this needs land and in a business or industrial area (which this land is) that land is extremely expensive and obviously neighbors would be offended by noise, traffic and potential burning wood smell for live fires. This site offers easy access off route 3, is in-expensive as the County owns it and allows for utilities close by. That was the whole idea of being in a secluded area. The answer to what kind of training is expressed in the above paragraph.
- Yes, the entire intent was to give the firefighters that serve in all of the communities in Plymouth County a place to practice their craft. This site could also take in rental fees for private industry such as Pilgrim, the Military etc. The only drawback we currently have is public access, thats a long story and one you should look into!
- We need a 5 story tower to run ladders up and to use rope to rappel out of, a burn building for live fires using straw, (class A material, no hazardous materials on any of the sites, need classroom with bathrooms and a building to practice forcible entry and roof ventilation to name a few.
- As mentioned above finding inexpensive land with easy access (Towns need to come in with their fire trucks) in an industrial setting. We felt that this serves all communities and that the County with land assets would allow us to utilize the land for the common good for all the communities. I searched many areas including Duxbury and the Plymouth site fits best.
- No, I read the article after it was sent to me by someone who has put allot of free time into this site for all firefighters and was very offended by your article. Chief Bradley and I spoke last week as the Town wanted to see our license and explain the current status and he described the visit by the environmental folks.
While we recognize to some, this is an eyesore, this to many of us is a true training site for very dirty lifesaving work. We are also not responsible for the many beer cans, whiskey bottles and mattresses and tv’s that get dumped often, but we are the ones that continually clean it up. We also consider ourselves the protectors of life, property and the environment and we take that seriously and that at no time are any chemicals, oils or solvents left on the ground. Gas tanks are emptied before coming on site and gas tanks are removed before the car props are used and are carted off by a vendor to a responsible site. The ladder truck was scheduled to be removed today again by a private company donating time after Chief Bradley called.
I hope you have time to see the conceptual plans and if you would like to visit the site with me I am available.
Thank you
Kevin M. Nord, EFO