Carbon County officials are hoping to secure nearly $76,000 to purchase a car fire simulator to help first responders practice for such an emergency in a controlled environment.

Last week, the county commissioners ratified an application to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency/State Fire Commissioner for a $75,973.57 Emergency Service Training Center Capital grant. If successful, the money would be used to purchase a car fire training prop/simulator and LP gas storage tank.

Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said that this is an important training for the volunteer first responders because it’s not just an ordinary training exercise and it is required to have the Emergency Operations Training Center certified to do certifications.

“What this will do is it will keep us from having to travel outside the area, whether it be Montgomery County or Harrisburg Area Community College, taking our firefighters and our equipment out of the county to get the certification,” he said, adding that this training certification is becoming a requirement for insurance for municipalities.

Carbon County already has some of the equipment to complete this kind of training, however the vehicle is needed.

“It’s extremely cost effective to us to be able to do the certification,” Nothstein said.

In a related matter, Nothstein said that EMA Coordinator Zach Gilbert is working on creating a description of the duties and responsibilities of municipal emergency management coordinators and elected officials regarding emergency situations and responsibilities to the communities they serve.

“It’s to fully understand why they need that person because if somebody (EMC) resigns, they got 24 hours to name someone else to replace them by law,” Nothstein said. “There is a whole lot of things that we’re going to be going over” including borough codes, first and second class townships and more.

Gilbert will present this at the next Carbon County Council of Governments meeting, slated for 7 p.m. on June 24.