Brayton Fire Training Field in College Station expands to 279 acres

COLLEGE STATION – TEEX’s Brayton Fire Training Field, one of the largest emergency services training complexes in the U.S., has more than doubled in size to 279 acres, following a property transfer from Texas A&M University.

“The acquisition of this land ensures that we will continue to expand our emergency services training and technical assistance for many years to come,” said Texas Engineering Extension Service Director and CEO Gary Sera.

The transfer of three parcels of land adjacent to the Brayton Fire Training Field, Disaster City? and the Emergency Operations Training Center (EOTC) was finalized in May upon approval by Texas A&M University and Texas A&M University System officials. The land had previously been under the control of the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“We are very excited that we got this property,” said Robert Moore, Interim Director of TEEX’s Emergency Services Training Institute (ESTI) and Brayton Fire Training Field. “It allows us to expand and better serve the emergency response community of Texas.” He credited Ron Peddy, Associate Director of ESTI, with putting together the proposal that led to the procurement of the additional property.

“The new areas could be used for wilderness rescue training at present and will provide room to expand our training props and classrooms to better serve our current and future clients,” Moore said. “We were landlocked before we secured this property from the College of Agriculture. Now we can develop new capabilities and training scenarios. We are currently putting together a 10-year plan that will outline additional developments for the new property.”

Most of the newly acquired property lies northeast of Brayton Fire Training Field, behind the EOTC and White’s Creek, between the former 120-acre complex and FM 2818-Harvey Mitchell Parkway.

Moore said the property won’t be used during the 2011 Annual Fire Training Schools in July, but could have some initial development completed in 2012. The first step is to fence the property, he said, since it backs up to apartments and other community properties.