HERO Center

The HERO Training Center — the state’s newest public safety training facility — had its grand opening this week in Cottage Grove. The full name of the facility is the Health Emergency Response Occupations (HERO) Training Center.

The project budget was $20.5 million: including an $11 million contribution from the State of Minnesota, and the remaining was funded by the cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury. In addition to providing a safe location for EMS, fire and police to train, “it will create opportunities for hosting community-based safety education and training including CPR, firearms, and recreational vehicle training.”

The center is well laid out to allow multiple groups to use it at the same time. The center contains two indoor firearms ranges, with the larger one being 50 yards long, 12 lanes wide, and having the ability to bring a squad car in as a prop. There is a large mat room, a two-story tactical training area with moveable walls, a firearms simulator, and ample classrooms. The technology for the classrooms was donated by the South Washington County Telecommunications Commission.

Two “reality-based training houses” are located outside toward the rear of the main building. One house is a split-entry and the other is a rambler-style home that both have breach doors and tactical entry doors. The site has two acres of fields reserved for outdoor and K9 training.

The facility can be reserved by contacting the training center manager, Dan Anselment, at (651) 458-2811 or at danselment@herocentermn.org.

By the size of the crowd at the grand opening, there is a lot of interest and community pride in the project. We congratulate the cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury — and their staff — on the completion of the center and a job well done.

Up next: The League’s New Position Dedicated to Mental Health and First Responders

Stay safe,
Rob