Santa Clara County Fire Department

McCormack Training Center

McCormack Training Center
485 West Sunnyoaks Av
Campbell, CA 95008

Drill Tower Built: 1969
Classrooms Built: 1996

The training facility is located behind Sunnyoaks Station. It is named after Captain Mark McCormack, who died in the line of duty on 13 Feb 2005.

It consists of a four-story training tower and classrooms. Although Bay Area Air Quality Management District restrictions no longer allow for live burns, the tower is used for ladder and rappelling training. This is also where the Physical Ability test for firefighter and volunteer candidates takes place.

The tower has a smoke generator which uses a non-toxic, non-polluting liquid to make a smoke-like vapor. It was obtained from a Hollywood movie production company, and is capable of producing 171,000 CFM (4842 M3/minute) of smoke. It was used during the filming of one movie to fill the Houston Astrodome, to zero visibility, in five minutes! This allows firefighters to train in safe but extremely heavy smoke conditions.

classrooms

McCormack sign McCormack plaque

Classrooms

tower e10

Training/Drill Tower

Also stored here is the S.A.F.E. (Safety Awareness and Fire Education) House, a 28 foot (8.5M) recreational vehicle, built in 1995 for child fire safety education.

For more information about training, see the Training pages.

A satellite photo, that happens to have caught a drill in progress at the tower, can be seen here.

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