By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Alabama, held a ribbon-cutting Monday for its new Advanced Responder Training Complex, Building 640.
- The 43,000-square-foot facility was built on the concrete foundation of a former unused warehouse, part of the closed Fort McClellan Army post, and took about six years from design to completion, with construction beginning in 2023.
- The complex is intended to help firefighters, police officers, health care professionals and other first responders train for complex emergencies.
- Officials including FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton, DHS Under Secretary for Management Brian Cavanaugh and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. Kelcey Shaw spoke at the ceremony.
- The Center for Domestic Preparedness has trained more than 1.5 million responders since opening in 1998 and currently trains more than 50,000 annually.
ANNISTON, Ala. — Federal, state and local officials gathered Monday at the Center for Domestic Preparedness to cut the ribbon on a new training facility built on the grounds of the former Fort McClellan Army post, according to the Anniston Star.
The Advanced Responder Training Complex, a 43,000-square-foot building known as Building 640, was constructed on the foundation of a former unused warehouse. The project took about six years from design through completion, with construction beginning in 2023 after the original structure was demolished down to its concrete foundation. The new complex is designed to help firefighters, police officers, health care professionals and other first responders train for complex emergencies.
CDP Acting Superintendent Chris Chesney said the site holds historical significance, noting it was once where new soldiers arriving at Fort McClellan met their drill sergeants for the first time. Fort McClellan closed in 1999, and the building had subsequently seen only sporadic use for training and warehouse space.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. Kelcey Shaw credited the partnership between the Corps, the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA and the CDP in completing the project. FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton, who has trained at the CDP, said training forms the foundation of effective emergency response: “As much as I like to say that we rise to the occasion, in reality we default to our level of training.” DHS Under Secretary for Management Brian Cavanaugh, the ceremony’s keynote speaker and a former volunteer and career firefighter, said the project reflects the cooperation between the local community and federal agencies.
The Center for Domestic Preparedness, which opened in June 1998, provides specialized training to responders from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, tribal nations and U.S. territories. More than 1.5 million responders have trained at the facility since its opening, and it currently trains more than 50,000 emergency responders annually. Local officials, including Anniston Police Chief Clint Parris and Oxford Police Chief Daniel Phipps, said the new facility will reduce travel time for nearby departments seeking specialized training and create additional opportunities for local officers to network with responders from across the country.