PUBLIC COMPUTER LABS WILL OPEN IN GILMER AND BRAXTON FIRE HALLS

(09/07/2010)

Sixty West Virginia fire halls will be the location of public computer labs offering free broadband access and basic computer skills training to the public. Fire stations in Flatwoods and at the Gilmer County Volunteer Fire Department are among regional departments participating in the program. Ten computers and workstations, each equipped with webcams and connected to a printer, will be installed in each of the 60 fire stations. A laptop and big-screen LED also will be standard components in each lab. Trained mentors will be on hand to help those who are new to personal computing learn how to navigate the Internet. Twenty of the computer labs are scheduled to open by the end of this year, mostly in Southern West Virginia, with the remaining 40 labs to be added during the following two years. The program is part of a $4.4 million federal stimulus grant. State Fire Marshal Sterling Lewis said the computer labs "will help us return to the days when the fire department was the hub of a community." The program is designed to train more than 37,000 people and add more than 12,700 households and businesses to broadband during the life of the project. Another component of the program involves the refurbishing of surplus computers from government agencies and other sources and selling them at low cost Refurbishing centers are planned at Huntington and at the former Circleville High School building in Pendleton County.

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