Venues

The Education and Administration Building is the central entrance portal to the complex for all visitors and students. There are three scenario-based training venues located within the Education and Administration Building on the second floor and basement level. There are simulated motel rooms, meeting rooms, sales offices, and suites located on the second floor. These venues provide students a realistic training environment with long corridors, stairwells, and a restaurant and bar area. The basement level is configured to simulate a subterranean office complex, with multiple adjoining rooms and low light conditions. The subterranean complex has multiple entry points located throughout the building.

There are seven reconfigurable classrooms of various sizes available for use within the Education and Administration Building. They are equipped with A/V projection and smart board technology. The building also offers two smaller conference rooms which are available for small group training or informational meetings.

Opened in 2018, Swift Water and Flood Training is a start-of-the-art complex that provides a unique training environment for swift water and flood rescue training and emergency boat operations. The complex, run by officials from the Office of Fire and Prevention Control, incorporates a city block that can flood, a swift water channel, a vehicle in water rescue prop, a three-acre pond, and a high-angle rope rescue tower. See SWFT in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdZz80D4BAc

Opened in late 2014, CityScape is a state-of-the-art 44,000 square foot complex with 22 different venues including a high school, a mall, a restaurant and bar, an office building, a courthouse, and a motel.  CityScape has a sophisticated “control center” to monitor training, including 180 integrated cameras capturing all angles of activity within the complex. Integrated sounds and smoke can be added in numerous ways to make training as realistic as possible for first responders who train at the SPTC.

Located in the center of SPTC grounds is the Field Operations Building (FOB). Completed in 2012, the building supports training in many outdoor venues at the SPTC. The building is comprised of two classrooms, staff and instructor offices, a simulated emergency room entrance venue, garage space with designated EMS, Fire Service and Law Enforcement apparatus bays. In 2023, the SPTC added a new 300 degree, full-immersive simulator for law enforcement officers to train with. This simulator is located within the FOB and will be fully integrated into the Center's training opportunities in 2024.

Building 3 is a large 20,000 square foot hanger space that affords an enclosed open area for training. Cars, buses, and other types of props can be organized within Building 3 based on the specific training needs. Building 3 can be used with the large hanger doors open, or closed if a low light venue is needed.

Building 3 is home to an indoor shoot house, which is a large maze-style structure used for scenario-based training. Law Enforcement officers practice a variety of skills, from basic room clearing to advanced tactical movements, within a multi-room, multi-hallway setting. The venue is also used with EMS personnel in various high-performance skill development lanes. The venue includes traditional doors as well as non-ballistic breaching doors. The breaching doors can be used within the venue or as a stand- alone training device. An elevated platform is available to provide instructors/ and/or safety officers with an unobstructed view of the training venue.

Building 3 also contains a unique venue called the “Robot Rodeo.” This venue was built by the National institute of Standards and Technology in 2015 as part of the Raven’s Challenge Exercise. The venue contains a series of obstacles for robotic devices, which range in difficulty. Bomb Squads and Tactical Teams use the Robot Rodeo to practice maneuvers and obstacles such as stairs, doorways, and obstacles with their robots.

The Orion Building is a unique 165,000 square foot indoor venue for training and logistics support at the SPTC.  The Orion Building provides tremendous benefit to Unmanned Aircraft Systems training at the SPTC. For example, the building’s large bays and high ceilings provide an ideal setting for public safety drone operators to perfect their craft. 

The Disaster Village is a training venue comprised of eight mobile homes designed as a post-disaster trailer park that has been devastated by an extraordinary event. Some of the trailers have been moved from their foundations, while others have been tossed and landed in various types of angles and positions. Vehicles have been carefully positioned in various postures that emergency responders may encounter such as overturned or wedged into or under trailers. The village is used in a variety of scenario-based training programs to illustrate the tight, disorienting spaces that can be found in a post disaster response.

The Urban Search and Rescue Simulator is located on the tarmac at the SPTC. It is engineered based on a multi-level parking garage collapse. The venue is comprised of rubble, tunnels, voids, and various other types of configurations including a three-story vertical space. The venue is used for a variety of search and rescue and EMS trainings for both humans and their canine partners.

This venue is comprised of eight mobile homes that are organized in a trailer park community. The trailers can be configured in a variety of ways depending upon the specific training needs. The SPTC logistics staff can quickly configure a trailer to depict a hoarder trailer, homemade explosives lab, drug lab, or a variety of other ways needed for scenario-based training.

In 2019, the SPTC re-engineered a building used for storage into a new simulations center for Law Enforcement officers.  This building was introduced to these officers during the 2019 Excelsior Challenge as part of an advanced skills lane for Tactical Team operators. 

Built in 2018, the Outdoor Breaching House provides tactical teams with a realistic venue to practice different types of breaching on a variety of different doors and windows.  The Outdoor Breaching House accommodates explosive breaching training, which was a capability need identified by the New York State Police and other Tactical Teams in the State.

Mass Transit venues have historically been a target of choice for terrorist organizations across the globe.  To address this reality, the SPTC offers a variety of mass transit training venues, including buses and train cars.  Many of the SPTC’s buses were donated to the Center by the Capital District Transportation Authority and the train cars were donated by the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Approximately three and a half miles of decommissioned runways and taxiways have been specially resurfaced, striped, marked and prepared to support emergency vehicle operations training for use by all first responder disciplines. The track is actually a series of smaller training venues including serpentine precision driving courses, streets and roads in an urban setting, a special driving skill development section, and a high-speed road course. Special observation towers, weather shelters and related structure are located around the track for instructor and student use.

The track is used for general emergency vehicle defensive driving, Law Enforcement pursuit driving, pursuit intervention technique training, and various other specialized emergency vehicle-related training for Law Enforcement, Fire Service, EMS, and others. Specialized off-road and all-terrain vehicle driving is supported as well. 

The SPTC is the proud home to Emergency Vehicle Operations Course training for the New York State Police.  Each recruit in the New York State Police Academy spends two weeks of their time training on the track at the SPTC learning how to safely drive in operational situations. 

The woods is approximately 100-acre tract of thickly wooded land. First responders typically utilize the woods for EMS special rescue training, search and rescue, woodland tactics, land navigation and other related training programs.

The woods also offer campgrounds settings, which includes up to three campsites available in several configurations. A trail leads to these venues from two different directions in the woods. First responders can utilize the campgrounds in all weather conditions.

The Hideaway Trailers are situated on a hill on the northwestern edge of the SPTC’s property. Within this area, two 2-bedroom trailers are situated on gravel pads. The trailers can be powered by generators and are useful for depicting extremist, terrorist, or clandestine settings for Law Enforcement, EMS, and explosives training.

The Canine Obstacle Course allows for skills-based training for working canines and their handlers.

The SPTC has a variety of open field locations that can be used for various types of training. The SPTC also has several outdoor, trailer configured, emergency lighting systems that can be used for outdoor evening or night training.