Sierra College Enters Land Purchase Agreement to Construct New Regional Public Safety Training Center

February 19, 2025

Public Safety Center News — The land purchase is the latest milestone in an effort launched by Sierra College in 2021 to partner with Placer County, Placer County Sheriff’s Office, Placer County Fire Department, the FBI, fire and police departments representing Roseville, Rocklin, Lincoln, and Auburn, and education partners such as Sacramento State to tackle the greatest public safety training needs experienced in Placer County and beyond.

New 50-acre Facility in Western Placer County Will Feature Training Grounds, Props and Simulated Spaces to Support Real-world Training by Students, Regional Police and Fire Agencies

Sierra College today announced an agreement to acquire a 50-acre site from the Western Placer Waste Management Authority (WPWMA) for the design and construction of a new Regional Public Safety Training Center to meet the growing demand for highly skilled first responders and public safety professionals.

“Skills training in public safety is crucial, not just for students preparing to enter the profession but also among our professional police and fire agencies that must meet ongoing training requirements,” said Sierra College President/Superintendent Willy Duncan on behalf of the college and more than a dozen regional public safety partners pushing for the new center. “The lack of a local, fully equipped regional training center has been a stumbling block to training future public safety professionals in our region in the sort of simulated environments they work in daily. Sierra College is proud to partner with the public safety community to advance this locally owned and operated training facility to make our communities that much safer.”

Under the land purchase agreement between Sierra College and WPWMA, the college will purchase 50 acres of land northwest of Fiddyment Road and West Sunset Boulevard in the Sunset Area of unincorporated Placer County. The 50 acres would be subdivided from a larger, 154-acre WPWMA-owned parcel that is currently undeveloped and planned for future complementary and programmatic elements. Under the agreement, Sierra College will have two years to conduct environmental review and identify the precise location for siting the Training Center. The purchase price is $1.1 million.

The agreement was approved by the Sierra College Community College District Board of Trustees on Tuesday, Feb. 11 and by the WPWMA Board of Directors on Thursday, Feb. 13.

The land purchase is the latest milestone in an effort launched by Sierra College in 2021 to partner with Placer County, Placer County Sheriff’s Office, Placer County Fire Department, the FBI, fire and police departments representing Roseville, Rocklin, Lincoln, and Auburn, and education partners such as Sacramento State to tackle the greatest public safety training needs experienced in Placer County and beyond. Based on these consultations, early designs for the Regional Public Safety Training Facility include an emergency driving course, training tower, simulated tactical village, training props, shooting ranges, indoor training spaces, and a large paved area for maneuvers (i.e., grind pad). The facility will also include classrooms and is envisioned to support both fire and police academies in the future.

Sierra College currently offers degrees, certificates and skills certificates in Fire Technology, including a Firefighter 1 and 2 Academy, an Administration of Justice program that includes two levels of police academy training, and a Emergency Medical Technician program.

Partial funding for the Regional Public Safety Training will come from Measure E, the $350 million Sierra College facilities bond approved by voters in 2018. The partners intend to work together to identify additional funding sources.

What This Means to Our Partners in Their Own Words

Placer County

“We all recognize the need to scale to match future growth and maintain high-quality community service,” said Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo. “This facility will help us accelerate hiring of future workers and keep our workforce trained with the latest skills without the added cost and time of sending our personnel out of the area for training. Placer County is excited for this partnership with Sierra College and our public safety partners.”
“Placer safety agencies work exceptionally well together and this regional training center is a tremendous opportunity to enhance our collective effectiveness for the community,” said Placer County Fire Department Chief Brian Estes. “Joint training among local agencies and among fire and police is the future of public safety response. This facility will give us the opportunity to be on the cutting edge by continually training together across agencies to maintain the best possible service to the community.”
“The vision for a Regional Public Safety Training Center has been the epitome of collaboration between Sierra College and all the public safety agencies, both law and fire, in western Placer County,” said Placer County Executive Officer Daniel Chatigny. “Placer County is proud to be a partner in this much needed and strategic vision.”

Roseville

“Our public safety workforce is a combination of hiring workers from out of the area agencies who want to move to Placer County combined with newly hired staff from the local area,” said Roseville Police Chief Troy Bergstrom. “The common need across our workforce is we struggle to find a place for them to receive training both as newly hired staffing needing academy training or for the large amount of in-service training required for our officers and professional staff. A modern training facility in our county will allow us to train our own workforce here to keep up with our training needs and be able to maintain the high level of expertise required of our regional public safety workers.”
“Demand for training is sky-high and beyond our current facilities,” said Roseville Fire Chief Ryan Harrigan. “We see intense demand to use Roseville’s fire training center for firefighter academies, continuing education, and in-service training for our personnel and public safety partners. We look forward to further collaboration to design a bigger, more comprehensive training site that can better meet our regional training needs.”

Lincoln

“For smaller agencies, it’s difficult to find the time and funding for training, even though our needs are the same as large agencies,” said Lincoln Public Safety Chief Matt Alves. “Having a facility in our backyard will save local taxpayers money because we can share resources with our partners, as well as save on travel and personnel costs because we won’t need to travel out of area.”

Rocklin

“Right now, agencies are stringing together their training programs on an ad hoc basis around the community wherever we can find space,” said Rocklin Police Chief Rustin Banks. “We are trying to train on emergency driving maneuvers in empty parking lots. This is an incredible opportunity to design a first-class, comprehensive training facility from the ground up so that we can continue to deliver first-class service to the community.”
“Public safety professions are evolving rapidly, with increasing demands for training to keep pace with changing laws, technology and community expectations,” said Rocklin Fire Chief Reginald Williams. “We are excited to be partnering on a regional-scale facility that keeps our personnel up-to-date on these changes for their safety and the safety of our community.”

About Sierra College

Sierra College District is rising to the needs of our community. Sierra College serves 3,200 square miles of Northern California with campuses in Rocklin, Grass Valley, and Truckee. With approximately 125 degree and certificate programs, Sierra College is ranked first in Northern California (Sacramento north) for transfers to four-year universities, offers career/technical training, and classes for upgrading job skills. Sierra graduates can be found in businesses and industries throughout the region. More information at www.sierracollege.edu.