SALINA, Kan., - The chief of the National Guard Bureau visited the Great Plains Joint Training Center here March 26.
Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley toured the recently developed 160-acre site, where military and civilian first responders train together for state disaster response.
"This is a world treasure out here," he said. "(I'm) very impressed."
McKinley was invited by Air Force Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the adjutant general of Kansas, to visit the site, which was developed over the past couple of years and opened for training last summer.
The training venue includes Crisis City, a replica of a small city that allows responders a more realistic training scenario. It includes a rubble pile for a building collapse and actual overturned rail cars for a hazardous chemical spill. Additional venues are being added, Guard officials said.
"We designed the site after getting input from our civilian first responders on what they need," Bunting said.
McKinley expressed appreciation for Bunting's vision and ability to make the site a reality.
"With Fort Riley, this facility can bring so much training space to this part of the country," he said.
The first joint civilian-military training at the Great Plains Joint Training Center and Crisis City was in June 2009, when the field portion of the Vigilant Guard exercise involved a train derailment and building collapse.
During his visit, McKinley toured the Crisis City headquarters building, which is nearing completion. It will provide a second-story observation room for emergency planners and leaders to watch the various components of an exercise unfold. It will also provide classroom instruction.
A group of firefighters involved in a search and rescue exercise greeted McKinley as he got a close-up view of the rubble pile. He thanked them for their efforts.
McKinley told reporters there are potential opportunities where the Great Plains Joint Training Center might provide the best venue for national training needs and said he would ask some of his team to come visit the site to determine the possibilities.
"I can't think of a better venue than this facility right here, right in the heartland of America," said McKinley.