Columbus has approved purchasing additional training equipment for the new Evolution Training Center, 2670 Verhulst St., in the city’s AirPark.
City board of works members approved spending $50,980.85 for several pieces of training equipment and other items from California-based CPAT Distribution Inc., according to a copy of the purchase agreement.
The funding comes from the cumulative fire fund, a non-reverting fund that allows the city to purchase capital equipment for the fire department, said Jamie Brinegar, city finance director.
The equipment will be used to evaluate the physical fitness of prospective and current firefighters using the CPAT, or Candidate Physical Ability Test, which is a physical fitness test administered to prospective firefighters that is becoming increasingly standard among fire departments across the country, said Columbus Fire Department Deputy Chief Michael Kutsko.
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“(The training) just gives all fire departments the knowledge that this person is physically fit to be able to do the job,” he said. “A lot of fire departments, when you go to apply, they’ll ask you if you have a CPAT card.”
The equipment that will be purchased includes a stair-climbing machine that helps simulate climbing stairs with firefighting gear on, a mechanized device mounted to a wall that simulates breaking down a door with a 10-pound sledge hammer and a 64-foot-long tunnel maze that simulates searching for a fire victim with limited visibility, among other equipment, according to the purchase agreement. The purchase agreement also includes test proctor training.
City officials hope that the Evolution Training Center becomes a destination for area fire and police departments seeking quality public safety training. Currently, the nearest CPAT training facilities are in Vincennes and Wayne Township, Kutsko said.
“We’ll charge a small fee for people to do this and that will help keep that Evolution building up and running independently from the city’s money,” Kutsko said. “There is always a constant need for this (training),” he said.
The Evolution Training Center, which opened in October, is a 12,000-square-foot facility with an 8,000-square-foot gymnasium designed for training first responders, including firefighters, police officers and paramedics.
The facility features two 50-person classrooms, an EMS lab to do recertifications for paramedics, a firearms simulator, among other training options.
The exterior includes a live fire training tower, a motor vehicle extrication prop, a vehicle fire training prop, a confined space training prop, a propane tank fire training prop and a vertical ventilation roof simulator.
A construction contract worth $273,825 was awarded in January 2018, to a local firm, Building Concepts of Indiana Inc., and construction began in March 2018.
“When we started about two or three years ago talking about building what is now Evolution, it was training courses like this that we felt like would be the bread and butter to bring money in,” said Mary Ferdon, executive director of administration and community development for the city. “Our goal has never been to make a profit, obviously. But we want to be able to cover a lot of our operating costs.”
