A new firefighter training facility has opened in Olympia to give firefighters from throughout the region real experience with challenging situations.

The Olympian ( http://is.gd/5nmUhP) reports the facility is named the Mark Noble Regional Fire Training Center after a department's firefighter who died from a work-related brain cancer in January 2005.

It features three buildings: a six-story commercial tower, a two-story apartment building, and a new incident command training center.

The Olympia training center is the only facility in the state that can allow firefighters to practice maneuvering through tangled wires, break through a wall, and cling to the side of a high window where they wait to be rescued.

Washington state rules concerning firefighter training soon will require even more live fire training. Before Olympia opened its own facility, local fire crews had to travel to the fire academy in North Bend.

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Information from: The Olympian, http://www.theolympian.com