Current and future public safety personnel now have access to expanded training opportunities in the west metro area with the opening of a new four-story emergency personnel training tower at Canadian Valley Technology Center.

The grand opening, held Friday, drew nearly three dozen public safety and emergency response personnel representing surrounding communities in Canadian and Grady counties.

CV Tech is sharing its facility by extending a standing invitation to area agencies to use the 40-foot tower, which provides realistic, hands-on training opportunities across multiple emergency response disciplines.

During the event, CV Tech officials demonstrated the tower’s capabilities through several on-site scenarios by students who are enrolled in public safety programs. Demonstrated exercises included elevated window rescues, crime scene investigations and tactical breaching.

Additional training opportunities include fire burn rooms, confined-space simulations and adjustable walls, which facilitate customizable search and rescue scenarios.

CV Tech is committed to providing more top-notch training for first responders, said Superintendent Dr. Gayla Lutts.

“More training opportunities are needed to keep pace with considerable population growth in the communities we serve,” she said.

U.S. Census Bureau data confirm that Canadian County has been Oklahoma’s fastest-growing county for several years consecutively. The current county population of 187,189 represents an increase of more than 21 percent since the 2020 Census.

Rapid population growth in El Reno, Mustang and nearby Yukon has contributed significantly to increased demand for public services, including emergency response personnel.

CV Tech is a publicly funded technology center with campuses in El Reno, Yukon and Chickasha (in neighboring Grady County). The school offers public safety training programs for high school students and adults, including a one-year Firefighter program and a two-year Criminal Justice program for future emergency responders.

Additionally, the school offers a Basic Peace Officer Course (BPOC) for newly hired law enforcement officers. The program helps area communities reduce training expenses by allowing officers to complete mandatory Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET) instruction closer to home. This eliminates the need for hotel stays and meals associated with traveling to distant counties.

Grant Johnson, CV Tech’s Firefighter instructor, said the tower provides significant benefits because of its adaptability.

“There is a burn room on the first and second floors,” Johnson said. “The rooms can be filled with smoke and are completely dark to simulate real-world situations.”

The tower’s movable walls allow instructors to reconfigure room layouts and create new search and rescue scenarios, Johnson said. This provides students opportunities to face different challenges with each training exercise.

Theresa Bunn, instructor for CV Tech’s Basic Peace Officer Course, said her cadets will use the nearly 3,000 square-foot facility for building searches and other law enforcement training.

“It offers multi-level scenarios, and it’s dark,” she said. “The tower offers crime scene scenarios. I’m also excited we can now do joint exercise training with fire and ambulance personnel.”

In addition to its full-time programs, CV Tech offers short-term training in Emergency Medical Response (EMR) and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification. The school also plans to expand its offerings with Paramedic certification training in the near future.