From skid pad to train car: How the public safety training center is used

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Previously, firefighters practiced driving their massive engines and ladder trucks in grocery store parking lots and outside abandoned strip malls, said Section Chief Chris Grimaldi, who heads the fire department’s training.

City leaders said the state-of-the-art center is already serving its purpose, allowing police and fire recruits to train on-site and year-round. Previously, they would have to block off hours or even entire days for training in faraway counties, department leaders said.

“Now we can train anytime we want, day or night, seven days a week,” Grimaldi said.

On a stretch of rail line donated by Norfolk Southern, firefighters climbed atop actual train cars to deal with a simulated chlorine leak.

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

The “Hazmat Mondays” training is far more hands-on than having the firefighters watch videos in classrooms, which is what they typically did previously, Fire Capt. George Daykin said.

Not far away, police officers armed with replica Glocks arrested a would-be robber during a simulated training exercise outside a mock convenience store. And first responders demonstrated how they rappel face-first down a seven-story tower.

The technique comes in handy when pulling people from an elevator shaft or rescuing a suicidal person before they jump from a bridge or a window, officials said.

Atlanta Fire Rescue Chief Rod Smith called the training center a “monumental” shift from the outdated and dilapidated facilities his firefighters trained in previously.

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

“Some of these, prior to now, were deplorable,” Smith said, “even to the point where we had to evacuate multiple locations that we were working out of.”

Since it opened in April 2025, about 650 police and fire recruits have honed their trades at the $117 million facility. Department leaders say it’s been a “game-changer” for morale and their efforts to recruit and retain first responders.

Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said his department is 90% staffed for the first time in years.

“Since the training center opened last April, we have had eight academy classes graduate, (and) 157 new officers are on the streets,” he said.

“It isn’t cars and firetrucks and brick-and-mortar that saves lives,” Schierbaum continued. “It’s men and women that are applying tourniquets, doing CPR, stopping an active shooter, and that’s who we prepare at this location.”

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

The decision to build the training center was met with years of intense pushback by activists from Atlanta and beyond, especially amid the police accountability movement that started in the summer of 2020.

Those opposed to its construction argued the facility would lead to a more militarized police force. They also raised environmental concerns and contended the money could have been put to better use.

Activists staged protests and clashed with police in the street. Others torched vehicles, destroyed construction equipment, and some even vandalized the homes of executives involved in the project.

Some of the activists who organized peacefully and collected more than 100,000 signatures in the hope of letting voters decide whether to build the facility say they still feel their concerns were ignored.

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Schierbaum said the project was “right for Atlanta” and that a majority of the city’s residents want what he described as “a properly trained first-responder network.”

When someone calls 911, “we don’t check whether they supported the training center or not,” the police chief said.