Western Technical College has lots of space at its Sparta campus and is taking steps to utilize it.
The college announced that work on a $4.7 million remodeling and expansion of the Public Safety Training Facility will begin later this spring.
The project will accommodate the move of Western’s Emergency Medical Service training program from downtown La Crosse to the Sparta campus located in the Monroe County town of Angelo.
Kevin Dean, dean of the Health and Public Safety division at Western, said the 160 acres at the Sparta campus will allow EMS, firefighters and law enforcement officers to train together at the same site. “In real life, law enforcement, firefighters and EMS are all at emergency scenes together,” Dean said.
He said it was becoming difficult to conduct “scenario-based training” the campus in downtown La Crosse.