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Practicing for the worst-case scenario—before it’s real
As Raleigh’s skyline rises, the emergencies firefighters train for are getting taller too. Enter Wake Tech Community College’s new Fire and Rescue Training Center, set to open in 2027 on its Eastern Wake Campus in Wendell—giving Triangle first responders a place to practice for the kinds of multistory emergencies that are nearly impossible to recreate on the ground.
At the center of it all: a six-story burn building where firefighters can fight fires, search for victims, remove people from upper floors and ventilate smoke from a structure. Next door, a five-story training tower will tackle the other nightmare scenarios—high-angle rope, confined-space and elevator rescues.
The WTCC addition comes as Wake County and the Triangle continue to grow upward, with firefighters responding to far more than single-family homes. They may find themselves navigating apartments, hotels, offices, industrial buildings and other multistory structures. The simulator is designed to mimic those environments, with different floors configured for different occupancy types.
“Once completed, the center will be the only facility in the region to offer realistic mid- and high-rise training in a permanent structure taller than three stories,” says Wake Tech Provost of Public Safety Education and Training Dr. Jamie Wicker.
Beyond fires, a hazardous-materials and vehicle-extrication training area will allow responders to practice spill containment, hazardous-materials response and vehicle rescues, including heavy-vehicle extrication. A concrete containment ditch can also be flooded to simulate water-rescue and hazardous-material scenarios.
And it’s not just for firefighters. EMS personnel and law enforcement officers can train alongside them for complex emergencies—building the communication, coordination and decision-making skills critical when multiple agencies converge on the same scene.
The new center won’t replace existing training spots, but it will expand the settings available to recruits and experienced firefighters alike. For Wake Tech’s 33-week Career in a Year Fire Academy, in partnership with Wake County, that means adding multistory scenarios—think fire attack, search and rescue, victim removal, ventilation, and standpipe operations—to recruit training.
And the impact could stretch well beyond Wake County. Wake Tech expects roughly 100 to 150 students and emergency responders to cycle through the center each day—potentially putting 7,000 to 10,000 people a year through everything from routine drills to worst-case-scenario training.
The $19.3 million center is part of Wake Tech’s larger push to turn its Eastern Wake Campus into a public-safety training hub. But for the thousands of first responders expected to pass through each year, the mission is much simpler: Practice the worst-case scenario before it’s real.
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