Beaufort County Community College has received a $188,500 grant from The Charles A. Cannon Charitable Trust No. One to purchase a mobile breathing air compressor for its fire academy.
The funding will allow the college to buy a 24 CFM trailer-mounted compressor unit used to refill Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) cylinders during live fire training and emergency response simulations. The college’s current compressor is nonfunctional and beyond repair. This has forced the fire academy to rely on local fire departments to fill cylinders, a workaround that has caused training delays and placed added strain on partner agencies.
“With one exception, our local fire departments are run by volunteers. They rely on our partnership for continued workforce training. This grant means our students and regional fire departments will have reliable access to safe, properly filled breathing air for training,” said Dr. David Loope, president of Beaufort County Community College.
A Mobile Solution for Regional Training
The new unit is fully mobile, allowing instructors to refill air cylinders on-site at remote training grounds or partner fire department facilities rather than transporting cylinders to a stationary compressor. The package includes a generator, battery backup, lighting for nighttime operations, and storage for equipment and tanks.
The compressor purchase is part of a broader expansion of fire academy equipment, which recently included the donation of a fire truck to expand hands-on training capacity.
Supporting Certification Across a Four-County Area
The Inner Banks Fire Academy trains pre-service students and incumbent firefighters from across the college’s service area each year, providing industry-compliant instruction required for certification. College officials said the new equipment will reduce training downtime, expand the academy’s ability to support off-site training for regional departments, and ensure uninterrupted delivery of certification courses.
A Long History of Cannon Trust Support
The Charles A. Cannon Charitable Trust No. One was established in 1943 by Charles A. Cannon, who served as president and chairman of Cannon Mills Company for more than 50 years and built the Concord, N.C.-based textile company into a household name. The trust has a long history of supporting higher education and has previously funded a training ambulance and part of the Lisa Long Nursing Simulation Lab at Beaufort County Community College.