The Emergency Services Training Centre in Blyth, Ont. is partnering with Georgian College to offer more firefighter and emergency responder training.

Stephanie Currie, program coordinator at the ESTC, said in a statement “The ESTC in Blyth continues to lead the way in Municipal and Industrial Emergency Training.  This partnership with Georgian College is a first step in Marine training and we are thrilled to be working with such an outstanding institution.”

Specialized equipment is being added to the facility in Blyth to enhance their existing burn building and live fire grounds.

Currie says “Training on ground or structure fire we have equipment like this [fire truck] to respond, and we’re training them to just deal independently should they be in the middle of a Great Lake.”

Marine Engineering and Navigation Cadets at Georgian College will begin taking firefighting training at the ESTC this fall.

It’s the most recent in a string of new and different programs taking advantage of the facility, which complement an already full slate of firefighter training programs.

The ESTC is also working with Sarnia’s Enbridge on flare training to find natural gas leaks.

Currie adds “We can adapt to suit whatever training needs are there, for Bruce Power we have a prop we’ve built for them this fall that is something they haven’t encountered with their training yet so it’s very exciting.”

Growth at the ESTC has been rapid, it opened in 2004, by 2011 they held only nine courses, but this year there are 52 courses being held.

The next closest firefighter training facility outside of the big cities is in Gravenhurst, so Blyth appears to have filled a geographical hole in the world of firefighter training.

The growth is good news for local taxpayers, who initially spent over $1 million to build the training centre and have been paying its bills ever since.

Neil Vincent, reeve of the Municipality of North Huron, says “This year’s budget has moved out of the red, so that it will be covering its own costs.”

Find out more about the training for municipalities and companies at the centre at: www.estc.ca