September 11 literally changed our world, and Oakland Community College is responding to that change. The college's 22-acre simulated city – CREST (short for the Combined Regional Emergency Services Training center) at the Auburn Hills Campus was originally envisioned as a reality-based program where, each year, as many as 4,000 emergency services personnel from throughout Michigan and the Midwest could train together to handle police, fire and medical emergencies.

In October 2001, the OCC Board of Trustees voted to expand the scope of CREST to include anti-terrorist and biological/chemical weapons training.

It's an expansion endorsed by area government and emergency services leaders.

On January 16, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson hosted an event at his offices to lead off the fund raising initiative for CREST. Mr. Patterson, among the first elected officials to formally endorse CREST, told more than 70 business, community and political leaders that CREST, "although based in Oakland County, will serve all of Michigan...as a model for the nation as a homeland defense center."  Representatives from area from fire, police and EMS departments, and the FBI-Detroit Office also attended the event to show their support.

Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer, who represents Michigan police chiefs on a federal antiterrorism task force, says the facility is critical: "At no time in the past has the need for this type of facility been more pressing."

The FBI-Detroit office, which covers all of Michigan, has also endorsed CREST and indicated its enthusiasm for the project, according to Assistant Special Agent in Charge Kevin B. Kendrick.

DTE Energy plans to use the site to train electrical utility workers for emergency situations; and over the next three years, the Consumers Energy Foundation has committed $30,000 toward funding the CREST burn building ñ a specially designed and controlled environment to train individuals in fighting various types of fires.

Others in the community have also been strong backers of the project, as its budget has been expanded from an initial $7 million to $14.5 million. OCC has launched a major fundraising initiative to pay for CREST and its enlarged mission. Some of the initial funding came from millage revenue, and $2 million was received from the State of Michigan. The balance of the funds will be raised from municipalities, corporate and private donors. During the event hosted by Mr. Patterson, OCC Chancellor Richard Thompson announced plans to form a "Chiefs Inner Circle" of major donors, who will able to select options for naming buildings, roadways, classrooms and individual training facilities.

Individuals can also participate on a smaller scale by purchasing engraved bricks for $100 or $250 that will be laid in a Pathway of Honor leading up to the CREST classroom building. The first 100 bricks have now been sold.

For information about the fundraising campaign or about purchasing a brick for the Pathway of Honor, contact OCC Foundation Director Jill Dunphy at 248-341-2130, or through the college's web site.

As major fundraising efforts progressed, CREST began taking shape on OCC's Auburn Hills Campus. On December 12, the CREST site went from bare to booming, as three prefabricated houses - a ranch with an attached garage; a colonial with full basement and a detached garage; and a Cape Cod bungalow - were erected using a giant crane. Each module (four for the colonial home and two for each of the others) weighed 40,000 pounds. The homes will be completed with utility hookups, finished interiors and even furniture.

By the end of the year, CREST will be readying itself for full-scale operations as four additional one-story structures – a 2,500-square-foot bank; a 3,100- square-foot, four-unit motel; a 2,700-square-foot convenience store/gas station, and a 13,500-square-foot administrative/classroom building are completed.

Since he joined OCC in 2001, OCC's Director of Emergency Services Training William Furtaw has received suggestions to make CREST even more realistic in replicating the kind of actual situations emergency services personnel will encounter: "Individuals have shared such ideas as adding fences in the backyards of the homes so police learn how to conduct a neighborhood chase; installing a jungle gym in our green space, since EMTs called to playground emergencies often have to get an injured child out of the middle of one of those structures; putting furniture, clothes and personal items in a home's closets and drawers to teach both search and fire control techniques; even installing a workbench topped with bomb-making equipment in a garage and adding a dumpster outside the convenience store as a place to search for evidence or people."