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| Curtis Dowdle (left), dean of public safety training for SCC, and Travis Scruggs, who coordinates SCC’s fire and rescue training, stand beside new Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) units the college secured thanks to a grant through Scott Safety Inc. |
As recently as this spring, instructors in Southwestern Community College’s fire training program had to exchange air packs every time one would walk out of a blazing structure and before the other could enter.
Thanks to a grant through Scott Safety Inc., that won’t be a problem anymore.
Travis Scruggs, who coordinates SCC’s fire and rescue training, helped SCC secure eight new Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) units – which are worth a total of $40,000 (or $6,000 apiece).
SCC’s application was among four to be awarded by Scott Safety Inc. from a pool of 116.
“With these new air packs, we’ll be able to completely outfit our students without having to borrow from area fire departments,” said Scruggs, who wrote the grant application. “And we’ll be able to utilize all of our instructors as needed. It would have taken us several years to get this equipment without this grant.”
In addition to the SCBAs, Scruggs and his program received a 55-gallon drum of firefighting foam – valued at roughly $3,000 – as a donation from Stephen Vance at Liberty Fire Protection in Charleston, S.C.
The donation came about thanks largely to the efforts of recent Fire Academy graduate Robert Golding, now a volunteer firefighter for Cowee Fire and Rescue. Once Golding learned about the drum, he said it was a “no-brainer” to connect SCC with the donor.
Scruggs said that amount of foam should last approximately nine months.
“I guess you could say I believe in giving back and paying it forward,” Golding said. “SCC was so great to me when I came through the fire academy. Anytime you can give back, it helps make for a better world.”
For more information about Southwestern Community College’s Public Safety Training Center, call 306-7041 or visit: www.southwesterncc.edu/pstc.
