In 2005 work started on converting the breathing apparatus training block and ladder workshop at Hamilton Fire station into a dedicated Technical Rescue Training Centre. On this site a grain silo, rope rescue tower and a concrete trench were also constructed. The centre was needed as a result of 9/11, the London bombings and also the Stockline Plastics factory explosion. Under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 Fire and Rescue services were given funding to attend non fire emergencies, incidents which they had attended previously but were not given funding for, as this was now part of their statutory requirements.
At this site Strathclyde firefighters will be trained in Road Traffic Collisions, Trauma Management, Urban Search and Rescue, Rope Rescue, Confined Space/Trench Rescue and Water Rescue which will be done off site.
The Technical Rescue Training Centre is under the command of a Group Commander ‘B’ with a Deputy who is a Group Commander ‘A’ and there are six Watch Commander ‘B’s, one for each of the sections:- RTC, Trauma, USAR, Rope Rescue, Confined Space and Water Rescue.
The former BA building is where the USAR and Confined Space training is done. The building has three interconnected concrete tunnels one of which is only half a metre square. Concrete blocks can be slotted into the ends of the tunnels to allow practice at breaking and breeching concrete barriers and the tunnels can also be filled with rubble and to add realism plastic pipes are hidden in the rubble and used to convey sounds of breathing, heartbeats, mobile phones, watches ticking, moans and other signs of life which can be picked up by sensitive listening devices. The centre also has flexible cameras and cameras on long extending poles. This building also has a replica of a collapsed floor which is hinged to the top of the staircase. An extension has been added at the east end of the building, which is just three walls with no floors and this is used for practicing shoring up of collapsed buildings and the wooden shoring on the gable is straight out of the AFS drill book, still the best method of doing it. On the roof of this flat roofed building a pitched roof has been built for roof training. In the yard outside the building a pile of rubble has been dumped complete with a sewer pipe.
Rope Rescue is done on a 25 metre high tower. This is a standard drill tower built in modular form by Crofton Engineering of Cambridge so that when the TRTC moves to its new (unknown at present) location in four years all they need to build is the concrete base and dismantle the tower and then re erect it on the new site. It has struts at the rear and a platform and canopy on the top. The floor is in sections which can be lifted for practicing the raising and lowering of casualties. The structure actually looks like a guard tower at a POW camp. There is also a silo for combine rope/confined space rescue, which has a platform built round the inside from which the instructors can supervise the training. Firefighters can cut through the silo wall from outside or carry out a rescue from above using lines and harnesses. There are also anchor bolts on the roof of the USAR building for line rescue.
At the rear of the RTC block concrete trenches have been built at ground level for trench rescue practice and the walls have been built up with earth into a sort of mound so the trainees can stand above the trenches and look in.
The old Ladder store has been converted into classrooms where in the garage section the trainees are shown the techniques of extrication with a rescue board (this used to be called a spine board but that name was rather disturbing for the casualty) before going outside to practice cutting up a car and extricating the casualty. Also in this room line rescue techniques are taught before going up the tower or silo. Another room has a manikin in it, that has adjustable, pulse, heartbeat and breathing and here the trainees are trained in Trauma Management to a level below Paramedics as all 115 front line appliances are to get defibulators. There are a couple of lecture rooms with audio visual teaching aids.
There are two 5.5 metre rescue boats at Port Glasgow Fire Station which are used for Water Rescue training.

The TRTC has a Supplementary Equipment Vehicle SF06JYA which is a Ford Ranger.
(October 2007)

The Tower with concrete trench behind the struts.        100_8875               The grain silo                    100_8876                        20/10/2007

The rubble pile.                                    100_8877                                                        20/10/2007

The rubble pile.                                    100_8880                                                        20/10/2007

Grovepark the USAR building              100_8881                                                       20/10/2007