By Katelyn Starks
Student Reporter
Amarillo College is set to open a new First Responder Center at the former Sunset Center location at 3701 Plains Blvd. in the summer of 2023.This facility will allow future firefighters, law enforcement, EMT and paramedics to be together in one building.
The project is currently being paid for through the 2019 bond, and construction costs are currently more than $15 million, Construction Manager Danny Smith, said. The two-story building is set to be around 100,000 square feet.
“The City of Amarillo was requiring a legal right of passage from the Plains Blvd. to the JC Penny Building to provide guaranteed access. This delayed the purchase of the building,” Smith said. “We have actually made the purchase of the building. We are in the process of renovating and currently replacing the roof right now.”
Fire Academy Coordinator and Chief Training Officer Stephen Malley, said the goal of the new First Responders Training Academy is to provide training, education and cutting-edge technology in one place to train the future first responders of the Panhandle.
“Training simulators built into the facility will allow real life scenario training for EMT and paramedic students,” Malley said. “A live fire training tower will be onsite to allow fire academy training including rope rescue, search and rescue and more. A gym area will allow for first responders to increase their physical training and gain the physical fitness needed to be healthy doing the job,” he said.
Up-to-date technology makes sure that the students have access and become well-equipped for all future patients. Installing all new equipment into this building ensures the latest information is available, according to Malley.
“This will be accomplished by new classrooms fitted with the latest technology to help deliver both standard and hybrid courses and training simulators to provide real life training,” Malley said. “It will allow all potential students to find a one-stop-shop for entering the world of public safety professions. They will be able to find out information on police, fire and EMS training and careers. They will be able to gain their education/certification and move between the programs without having to change locations.”
Students in the program are looking forward to the new facility. “Having us all under one roof could help with the cohesiveness and reality of the field that these future students will be going into,” Heather Williams, an emergency medical services profession major, said. “I think that having an academy just for all of the first responders will help because it will be more tailored to them, and they won’t be as spread out and singled out/individualized as they are now because in real life, we are all just one big team,” she said.
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