Above, Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, is pictured in front of the burn building speaking at the groundbreaking Tuesday of the addition to the Raymond S. Burton Fire and EMS Academy in Bethlehem. Paula Tracy photo

By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

BETHLEHEM – Training for the North Country’s firefighting and Emergency Medical Services response needs, along with licensing of commercial drivers from school buses to fire trucks got a huge leg up Tuesday when groundbreaking on a more than $5 million addition to the Raymond S. Burton Fire and EMS Academy was held.

Importantly, the upgrade will allow for training firefighters – many of whom are volunteers – to clean and decontaminate their equipment after using firefighting chemicals which are potentially linked to cancer, including PFAS, allowing them to go home clean to their families, officials said.

Located at 660 Trudeau Road in Bethlehem, one-time federal COVID-19 relief funds are also being used to increase classroom space for training and other infrastructure needs at the facility which is roughly 10 years old and a former garage area for the White Mountain National Forest.

In addition to being the state’s second training area for EMS and Firefighters, with the first in Concord, many of the students are volunteers who will be able to attend classes closer to home and currently have only one classroom.

Fire Standards and Training Medical Services Director Justin Cutting said the money will be used to increase classrooms allowing for more courses to be offered simultaneously and particularly on weekends when volunteer emergency responders have time.

The facility is named for the late and longtime Executive Councilor Raymond S. Burton of Bath, whose words were recalled by his successor, Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, a fellow Republican.

Kenney said that Burton had a saying for any new or incoming governor: “‘The first thing you need to do is to look north because that’s where the needs are in the state of New Hampshire,'” he said.

The Wakefield executive councilor said he helped plant the “seed” for the expansion project when the state knew there was a lot of  American Rescue Plan Act money coming “to town” in about 2021 and he knew of the needs of the project and property.

“I have to say the leadership in the state government has been outstanding from (Department of Safety Commissioner Robert) Quinn, to Justin Cutting, to John Marasco to Steve Lavoie, our Assistant (Safety) Commissioner. They all worked together. They made me look good, to be honest. I am just a guy who can wake up (and go to) a Governor and Council meeting and be cantankerous and say ‘we need something done. How are we going to do it?’ and that is the job, to point out in the north what the needs are, what are the things that need to get done,” he said.

Kenney, who is running for re-election and is unopposed in the Republican primary but will likely face Democrat Emmett Soldati of Somersworth https://emmettsoldati.com/ for the District 1 seat said the job of an executive councilor is not to take credit but explain “that the glass is half empty and we have to fill it up. And the way to do that is to point out exactly the resources and needs of what has to be done.”

Kenney said he was there 10 year ago for the dedication of the facility and was seeing a lot of familiar faces of the first responders and EMS leaders in the crowd. 

“That means you are persistent. You are dedicated and you want to see this facility continue to grow, that you are going to help out firefighters here in the north country and EMS personnel.”

Leaders said they hoped the sizable investment might help recruit more to service their neighbors.

More than 80 percent of the state’s first responders are volunteers and there is a growing need for more to join.

Jack Anderson, the Bethlehem Fire Chief with more than 50 years on the job, noted that volunteer efforts were part of the development of the current facility.

He noted that the large building on the more than 20 acre property was a seven-bay garage and at the time of acquisition the former Commissioner of Safety, John Barthlemes said there was no money to renovate it into classrooms.

Anderson asked him at the time if they could do it with volunteer labor. That happened and included some high ranking state safety officials who were swinging hammers in sub-zero cold.

Casella, the waste facility next door, has been a good neighbor and helped remove waste on the facility, Anderson noted.

“It was quite a monumental effort and it kind of caught on in the neighborhood,” he said.

The facility, he said, has already trained hundreds of firefighters.

In addition to Safety, the Department of Motor Vehicle will have a testing facility here.

John Marasco, director of the Department of Motor Vehicle said commercial driving testing will be handled at the facility, expediting licensing for everyone from school bus drivers to big rig operators and even fire department truck drivers who in the past had to go to Concord, perhaps several times.

“It’s a much better location…for north country residents it is going to be a place where they can come and get their CDL, and do the testing right on site. We actually have a mobile vehicle that is already out on the road and we will hopefully have the technology in the fall so the vehicle can come here, residents can come in. They can test to get their CDL to drive a school bus or any commercial vehicle…and get their license right here on the spot so it will be one-stop shopping,” Marasco said.

He said there is a need for a similar location in the Keene area but this will certainly be an added bonus for the region which might lead in the future to more employment in the area.

“We are going to put this to use and it will be a dynamic location for us,” he said.

Part of the improvements include a new, three-bay heated garage including a decontamination area with showers, an area to provide contaminated clothing and gear, an additional classroom, and a new training building to replace the old one, Cutting said.

“When firefighters come from around the north country to train and they train in that burn building and they get those contaminations on them, they now have a place to shower, to decontaminate before they go home to their families. There will be a place for them to wash their personal protective equipment to get the contaminants off which will really lead to increased safety overall in terms of those long term negative effects,” Cutting said.

The state is undertaking a number of measures to screen and test first responders for cancer which is linked to their work.

It is believed that PFAS, a forever chemical used in firefighting foams, has links to cancer.

When funds for the addition were announced several months ago, Gov. Chris Sununu said, “These improvements to our facility in Bethlehem will not only strengthen public safety in the North Country but ensure that New Hampshire remains one of the top states nationwide for public safety.”