VIDEO: The Charlotte County Fire and EMS headquarters is about to become a hot place.
Tuesday, the county will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new $9 million Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting training facility. It’s a simulator, that looks like a normal-sized passenger jet, sitting on the county property behind the fire administration building.
“So the seats are the same, the aisles are the same, the cockpit is the same, the dimensions are the same,” Charlotte County Fire Battalion Chief, Larry Lippel, says.
But this airplane is steel, all black, and made to burn.
With a few taps on an iPad, crews can set fire to the wings or the cargo area, and safely control the flames and the heat of the fire. They can also set up safe zones, where other firefighters can watch the active training.
Every firefighter who works in an area with an airport needs to get aircraft fire training once a year.