Stop 6: Montgomery County

Training center is collaborative effort

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Stop 6 on the Virginia Proud Weather Tour took Jeff Haniewich to Montgomery County.

Jeff visited the Montgomery County Regional Training Center, which Keith Bolte, the president of the Blacksburg Fire Department, said is still a work in progress.

"We've had a lot of help from a lot of different agencies, including the towns of Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Montgomery County. We have a burn building grant that we're working on and hopefully, we're really close to having that under construction," said Bolte.

While the future seems bright for the training center, there's still a lot happening right now.

"We've been very fortunate. We've had a lot of help. We've got some classrooms immediately behind us. We've got a maintenance shed that we're able to keep a tractor and Bush Hog equipment that we can maintain the property. We've just constructed another building that our training maze is in, to teach firefighters how to maneuver through a house full of smoke, dark, whatever the case might be. And then on the other side of that, there's a flashover simulator that we were able to acquire a grant for and purchase that. All this is made possible by so many people," said Emergency Services Coordinator for Montgomery County Neal Turner.

Stop 7 on the tour will take Jeff to Pittsylvania County to Ringgold Fire & Rescue.


About the Author:

Chief Meteorologist Jeff Haniewich is an American Meteorological Society (AMS) Certified Broadcaster, forecasting weather conditions in southwest Virginia on WSLS 10 News at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m. every weekday.