public safety sciences brochure by donna barry

PUBLIC SAFETY SCIENCES

administration of justice law enforcement operations fire science emergency medical technology

FIRST RESPONDER TRAINING

first responder training zones are ‘coded’ and identified by safety orange

â&#x20AC;&#x153;My heroes are those who risk their lives every day to protect our world and make it a better place- police, firefighters, and the armed forces . â&#x20AC;&#x153; ~Sidney Sheldon

GCC FIRST RESPONDER PUBLIC SAFETY SCIENCES First responder training, in an era of real terrorist threats to homeland security requires accurate and timely dissemination of shared information. Sharing successful models and lessons learned in the field between disciplines plays an important role in public safety strategies. Creating physical space and intersections for cross-disciplinary interaction between programs is vital to building spaces that will house them. The new Public Safety Sciences Building combines four distinct programs into a single complex including Emergency Medical Technology (EMT), Fire Science, Law Enforcement Operations (LEO) and Administration of Justice. There are shared spaces and synergies between EMT and Fire Science and similar shared spaces and synergies between LEO and Administration of Justice. These synergies and adjacencies are reflected in the space planning; Fire Science and EMT are on the ground floor while AJS and LEO are on the second floor. The site north of Vogel Avenue provides the opportunity to express the ‘theory and practice’ aspects of training for these fields. The academic + classroom vs. the practical + training are explored in the form and function of the project. The project integrates tradition with technology by utilizing both virtual vs. real time scenarios. The ‘training plane’ is an armature and a zone for real time training scenarios and identified by the color orange...safety orange. Training first responders requires a level of ‘theatre’ for realistic scenarios. For example, students from all disciplines participate in night drills. The students practice the skills they have learned in the classroom on real people in mocked-up situations. Actors are ‘made up’ with injuries and placed in confined spaces during the day and during the night for the night drill exercise. The students have to establish the safety of the scene, ‘rescue’ the injured from a location in order to stabilize their condition. These scenarios are timed and monitored by instructors. Actors are also utilized to portray frantic family members, an aspect of the practical scenario that can only be learned through experience and not in the sterile conditions of a classroom. These types of spaces and places are designed into the building. When the building is in ‘classroom mode’ these spaces are student ‘sticky spaces’. Students can hang out or study in the corridor in a two storey space or on a bench or between walls. When the building is in ‘training mode’ these spaces become ‘scenes’, the scene of a crime, an accident scene, an incident scene. The two storey space under the skylight is a well and a child is trapped with a broken limb. The student must get to the child from the second floor through the opening in the floor, secure the child’s limb and then pull the child up to the second floor through the shaft, put them on a gurney and whisk the child to the ambulance. Training and Art are brought together in the form of the architecture. Students ‘push back’ on this plane and within this zone. The roof, the walls and the ‘in between’ are all utilized during scenarios and during day to day student life on campus. first responder training zones are ‘coded’ and identified by safety orange

The training zone is signified by the color orange so students know which areas will be used for training. Durable materials are selected for each of the training zones for ease of maintenance for extended use and wear and tear by the students as they work through the scenarios.

THE CONCEPT

- Reaching beyond the Edcuational Specification (ED SPEC) - The ‘building’ program includes classrooms, labs, offices, and meeting rooms. The ‘teaching’ program includes theoretical and practical training utilizing textbooks and physical and virtual scenarios. The combination of the building program and teaching programs IS the concept of the building. All fire fighters must pass the Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT). It is the minimum requirement for the position of Firefighter. The CPAT is a nationally standardized test that consists of eight critical physical tasks that simulate actual job duties on the fire ground. Similarly, police officers must pass the Police Officer Physical Ability Test (POPAT). The building has eight basic components; faculty offices, fire science lab, the high bay, EMT classrooms, EMT general prep room, defensive tactics, simulator room and AJS classrooms. Each is numbered along the CPAT line which is folded into the form of the building. The intersections in the program are coded as ‘safety orange’ and serve as training zones. For example the, overlap between the upper corridor and the lower first responder training zones are ‘coded’ and identified by safety orange corridor at specific points serve as ‘confined space’ for training. Actual patient cases are often recreated and simulated during training drills. Baby Jessica McClure fell down a well in Texas in 1986 and was rescued two days later. The training ‘well’ between floors at the Public Safety Sciences Building provides for this reinactment while at the same time providing natural light between floors.

CPAT diagram

POPAT diagram

CPAT diagram - unfolded

CPAT diagram- unfolded

Building program- folded and coded

Building program- unfolded

first responder training zones are â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;codedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and identified by safety orange

PROGRAMMATIC + DESIGN FEATURES 07

06 21

31 23

30 05

31 31

18 22

02 02

02 01

06 05

06 05 11

15 06

Second Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

01 Lobby

12 Fire Science Lab

23 Defensive Tactics

02 Restroom 03 EMT Dividable Classrooms

13 Turn Out Gear 14 Decontamination Room

24 Defensive Tactics Storage 25 Reception

04 EMT General Prep Room 05 Corridor

15 SCBA Repair Room 16 Open Bay

26 Conference Room 27 Work Room

06 Office 07 Electrical Room

17 Stair (confined training) 18 Training Plane (Ground)

28 Fire Arm Safe 29 Open to below

08 Janitors Closet 09 Telcom

19 Firearm Unloading Station 20 Storage

31 Training ‘wells below skylights

10 Elevator Equipment 11 Mechanical Room

21 Administrative Justice Classroom 22 Simulation Room (future VirTra)

30 ‘Monkey bars’

first responder training zones are ‘coded’ and identified by safety orange

13 21

@ roof 18 18

“I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine. “ ~Kurt Vonnegut

SPECIAL PROGRAMMATIC + SUSTAINABLE DESIGN FEATURES

One of the special functional features of the site and program is a 10,000 gallon test pit. The pit is utilized to test the operational pressure of Fire Engine (known as ‘Fire Apparatus’) pumps to the National Fire Protections Association’s (NFPA) 1911 standard. The pit serves a dual purpose; one, for training and two, for potential use by near by municipalities to assist in maintenance programs for their Fire Apparatus. The pit is also used for training water drafting techniques. If fire hydrants are not available on a fire site, fire fighters have to draft water from ponds, lakes or even back-yard pools. Confined spaces are also incorporated in the landscape. Parallel site walls are used for fire hose drills and also double as a horizontal confined space for EMT training and night drills. Immobilizing a patient within a tight space is difficult and requires significant logistics and practice. In an effort to merge green practices with first responder training funtions, water from the test pit is captured in the funnel and re-used for future drills and testing while the water used for fire hose training is drained from between the parallel site walls and diverted into the orchard at 59th Avenue. Other sustainable features include the use of low flow water fixtures inside the building and native plants used outside the building to reduce the projects overall water consumptions. The use of Low-E glazinig, compact fluorescent lighting with motion sensor activation and highly efficient mechanical systems with controls tied to mechoshades reduce the projects overall energy consumption.

“Man is the only creature that dares to light a fire and live with it. The reason? Because he alone has learned to put it out. “ ~Henry Jackson Vandyke, Jr.

SUBSTANCE design consortium