Dinniman, Fellow County Senators Give $1 Million to
Public Safety Training Center

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2008

CONTACT: MARTIN INDARS                
PHONE: 610-692-2112     
mindars@pasenate.com                                                                   

WEST CHESTER - Chester County’s state senators presented a $1 million check for the Chester County Public Safety Training Center on Wednesday, May 7, at the Chester County Economic Development Council in Uwchlan.

The $1 million comes from $500,000 in state funding secured by Chester County’s Republican state senators, Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, Senator John Rafferty Jr., Senator Edwin Erickson, Senator Mike Brubaker and Senator Michael Folmer, and $500,000 in state funding secured by Chester County’s Democrat in the Senate, Senator Andy Dinniman.

“Public safety is and must always be government’s first priority, and that is why we are committed to the development of a state-of-the-art Public Safety Training Center,” Dinniman said on Thursday. “The center will train firefighters, police officers, emergency medical personnel and other first-responders in the latest emergency procedures.”

“Giving our firefighters, police and other emergency responders the tools they need to be properly trained is one of the best possible uses of taxpayer money,” said Senator Pileggi. “This center will help ensure the safety of residents throughout Chester County. Everyone involved in bringing this project together deserves congratulations.”

“I am greatly pleased that our emergency responders will have a first class training facility to assist these selfless men and women with up to date training facilities to continue their distinguished record of outstanding protection to your communities,” added Senator Rafferty.

Senators Rafferty, Dinniman, Pileggi and Erickson were on hand to present the check to Jim Reading, chairman of the Chester County Public Safety Training Foundation; Ed Atkins, director of the Chester County Department of Emergency Services; and John DiBuonaventuro, chairman of the Chester County Public Safety Training Facility Task Force.

The training center will be located on 70 acres in East Fallowfield and South Coatesville off Route 82 near Newlinville Road. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2009 and be completed in 2010.

The training facility will include a host of new facilities, from a new “burn building” where firefighters will be able to practice rescue operations, to a “tactical village” where police will practice what to do in a crisis, to classrooms for training in everything from trauma patients to hazardous materials.

For more details, contact Mark Meyer in Senator Rafferty’s office at 1-717-787-1398 or Martin Indars in Senator Dinniman’s office at 1-717-787-5709.

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