FTCC Announces Plans for an Indoor Swift Water Rescue Facility Built by Fathom Tanks
In November 2021, Fayetteville Technical Community College announced it would build the East Coast's first indoor swift water rescue training facility, with a tank and technology from Fathom Tanks.
In November 2021, Fayetteville Technical Community College's Board of Trustees unanimously approved plans for an indoor swift water rescue training facility at the college's new Regional Fire & Rescue Training Center on Tom Starling Road. The tank and its simulation technology would come from Fathom Tanks of Georgetown, Texas.
FTCC President Dr. J. Larry Keen framed the project around a clear gap. As he put it, "Dangerous flood and swift-water situations can happen almost anywhere." Yet realistic training is hard and dangerous to arrange in natural rivers. North Carolina alone has more than 40 certified swift water rescue teams, and every one of them has to keep retraining to stay certified.
Fayetteville knows the stakes. During Hurricane Matthew in 2016, floodwater turned downtown's Cross Creek Park, normally dry land, into a swift water rescue scene.
The Original Plan
- An 8,400-square-foot building on FTCC's fire and rescue campus
- An 88,000-gallon Fathom tank for year-round training
- Eight pumps producing currents of up to 7 knots
- Submerged vehicles and building sections for realistic scenarios
- A classroom and locker rooms on site
- A projected cost of $3.5 million
The project still needed approval from the State Board of Community Colleges. If approved, FTCC hoped to open within 12 to 18 months.
See the Fathom Facility That Inspired It
Along with the announcement, FTCC shared video from Fathom's indoor training facility in Texas, the model for its own center.
It Grew From There
College and county leaders had already visited Fathom's indoor training facility in Texas to see the concept in action. As planning moved forward, the vision got bigger. The finished tank holds 140,000 gallons, measures 40 by 80 feet and runs on 10 pumps, making it the largest indoor swift water complex in the country when it opened.
- Nov. 2021FTCC trustees approve plans for an 88,000-gallon indoor swift water facility with Fathom Tanks.
- Sept. 19, 2022FTCC breaks ground on the Swift Water Rescue Training Center.
- Nov. 13, 2023The facility opens with a 140,000-gallon Fathom tank, the first of its kind on the East Coast.
Since then, Army firefighters, out-of-state police dive teams and responders from across the region have trained in FTCC's Fathom tank.
Related Coverage
Sources
- Fayetteville Technical Community College: FTCC plans indoor swift water rescue training facility
- BizFayetteville: FTCC announces plans to add swift water rescue training facility (Nov. 16, 2021)
- FTCC: Hose uncoupling and groundbreaking (Sept. 19, 2022)
- Firehouse: New York task force conducts water rescue in Fayetteville during Hurricane Matthew
- Distinctly Fayetteville: FTCC opens new indoor water rescue training facility