The Del Valle Regional Emergency Training Center in Castaic, where 50 Los Angeles County firefighters gathered for live burn training on Thursday, plans to update its facility with a new burn tower, classrooms and administrative buildings.

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At their Tuesday meeting, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will decide whether to grant Langan Engineering and Environmental Services a contract as an environmental consultant for the Del Valle project.

Del Valle recently gained access to parcels of their 160 acre property, that had previously been leased by Vintage Oil.There are 21 oil wells on the site, in various states of upkeep.

Langan, to be potentially granted a three-year, $2.5 million contract with two one-year renewals, would conduct investigations of the land in question, including soil testing and groundwater testing.

They would also report back to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control and secure permits to ensure California Environmental Quality Act compliance.

Langan will use all the data collected to create an environmental management plan for Del Valle.

“The environmental management plan will identify areas of concern, and provide a framework for addressing the environmental work required as the Fire District proceeds with the development of the Del Valle site,” according to board documents.

The Del Valle Regional Emergency Training Center was built to give firefighters a taste of scenarios they might encounter everyday on the job, including chemical fires, vehicle fires and brush fires.

The hands-on training is coupled with classroom instruction, including debriefs after unsuccessful training sessions.

“Funded through Homeland Security grants, these realistic training scenarios will provide LACoFD and other local emergency responders a never before kind of true to life learning opportunity that will improve emergency response and mutual management of incidents,” according to the LACoFD website.

The training settings were created by special effects experts in the film industry, according to the site, and several production companies have already expressed interest in filming on the property.

The county Board will hold their Tuesday meeting at 1 p.m. instead of the regular 9:30 a.m., because of Veterans’ Day on Monday and to allow for a closed session 9 a.m., when board members will interview candidates for the position of Inspector General, to provide oversight and monitoring of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The public meetings can be livestreamed here. All board agendas and supporting documents are available here.

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

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