The Blue Grass Airport’s Regional Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Training Center is getting upgraded simulators to help train first responders.
The simulators will help firefighters train for emergency situations in planes and helicopters. It replaces a 30-year-old training system. The airport celebrated the upgrades with a ribbon cutting Wednesday.
Brian Wainscott is Blue Grass Airport’s Chief of Public Safety. He says the most important difference is new safety features.
“There are all sorts of safety monitors inside the aircraft so that we don’t put our firefighters in harm’s way as we train them,” Wainscott said. “We control the heat, we control the intensity of the fire. Whereas in the past, you essentially had a gas valve, you know, you light it and go.”
Wainscott says it will help them prepare for more advanced scenarios.
“When our students are in class, we actually pull up the layout of their airports, their design, potential hazards at their airport,” Wainscott said. “So it's not just about the plane that we're teaching. It's about aircraft firefighting in general.”
Wainscott says they bring more than 1,000 students to the airport each year to take firefighting classes.
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