The Raymond S. Burton Fire and EMS Training Facility in Bethlehem, NH, serves North Country emergency service responders. It is a companion facility with the same mission: “…training, educating, and certifying emergency and community responders to protect the citizens and visitors of New Hampshire.”

An acquisition of $5.2 million for facility improvements will soon bring tangible results at the property. Site work is planned to begin in 2024 at the training center, located off of 660 Trudeau Road.

Funding for the new investments, which was approved by Governor Chris Sununu and the Executive Council on February 21, will result in significant improvements to the safety, accessibility, training quality, and opportunities for firefighters and emergency medical services providers in the North Country.

History
On May 29, 2012, then Governor John Lynch signed Senate Bill 291, which appropriated funding to purchase land and build a fire training facility located in the North Country. The Department of Safety established a committee that was composed of fire chiefs and firefighters throughout the area to determine the needs and location of a fire training facility there. The committee examined multiple properties and unanimously selected the site in Bethlehem to be the location for the new fire training facility.

The property is a 12.1 acre lot, part of a larger parcel of land in the White Mountain National Forest obtained by the United States Department of Agriculture by federal condemnation in and around 1914. Key factors that weighed into the decision to select the site in Bethlehem were how the site was located within 60 miles of all the municipalities that were targeted, the cost of development, existing infrastructure, and community acceptance. This property consists of a main structure and several other buildings used for training and storage.

The site features a four-story burn building that serves both certification training and local department training. There is also a classroom building, vehicle fire, and trash receptacle fire props, and other miscellaneous structures.