Legislative Update - July 25, 2008

 Friday, July 25, 2008

Dear Friend,

During the legislative session, I was happy to support a bill that would provide funding for a much-needed upgrade to the Northeast Regional Training Center in Aberdeen.  This fire training facility provides many opportunities for Harford County to continue to expand the services available to our residents.

Below is a letter from the Fire and Rescue Institute at the University of Maryland, explaining more about the bill and the Northeast Regional Training Center.  As always, if you have thoughts or questions on this or any other issue, please contact me!

Very truly yours,

Mary-Dulany James
State Delegate,
Harford and Cecil Counties
www.marydulanyjames.com

Dear Delegate James,

The Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute of the University of Maryland is responsible for the education and training of the majority of the fire, rescue and EMS providers in the state. Each year we train over 35,000 students to safely and professionally serve their communities from the dangers of fire and other emergencies. In order to do this effectively, they have to have adequate and modern training facilities that support and encourage emergency services training in a safe and environmentally sound manner. In addition, until emergency services personnel are properly trained they cannot participate in emergency response, thereby depriving the community of much needed emergency response personnel.

The MFRI Northeast Regional Training Center located at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds is in dire need of renovation to be able to continue to provide services to a growing number of students. This project had the support of every statewide fire organization and was approved this year by the Maryland General Assembly for planning funds of $650,000. This will enable this important project to begin the architectural/engineering design and be ready for construction funding next year.

This purpose of this letter is to sincerely thank you for your support of this project. I do this on behalf of the state's fire, rescue, and EMS services as well as the thousands of MFRI students past, present, and future that will use this facility to train. Without your support this would not have been possible and I wanted you to know how much this is sincerely appreciated.

Thank you and we look forward to working with you in the future to support the public safety of Maryland.

Sincerely,

Steven Edwards, Director