MILFORD - Pike County Training Center is getting use they never envisioned- as a central command center for one of the largest manhunts this region has ever seen.

Sometimes called the "9-1-1 center", this reference is incomplete. In addition to serving as the Communications Center for 9-1-1 dispatchers, the $11 million facility on Pike County Boulevard, Lords Valley, offers training for firefighters, EMS and other emergency responders, an operations center in the event of a county-wide natural disaster and offices of the Pike County Emergency Management Agency. Other classroom instruction and workshops can be done there as well.

For the time being, however, the entire facility, except for the Communications Center which takes up part of the top floor, has been taken over by the PA State Police and their federal partners in the wake of the deadly ambush at the Blooming Grove State Police barracks only a few miles away, on September 12th. As of Thursday, October 2, the search for Eric Matthew Frein, believed to now be in the woodlands on northern Monroe County, pressed on relentlessly.

Richard Caridi, Chairman of the Pike County Board of Commissioners, said at their October 1st meeting scheduled classes and certification training need to find other sites or are suspended until the police no longer require the facility.

National Rifle Association certification is required for their armed correctional officers and probation officers. Caridi said that they were working out if this can be rescheduled; he did not anticipate a problem.

Timothy Knapp, their Training Director, is looking at holding scheduled classes at the Area Agency on Aging (Senior Center) and the Forest Volunteer Fire House.

Usage of the burn building training facility in back has been suspended because the fire departments would need to bring in their apparatus. "The police need to keep the grounds secure and we respect that," Caridi said.

He stated that the Pike County Training Center offers the investigators a central location with ample parking, two helicopter landing zones and excellent communication capability. Verizon provided additional phone lines overnight to meet the requirements of the many agencies stationed at the facility. Blue Ridge Cable enhanced the security of the communications.

The County has provided whatever technical assistance they could, including large scale, high resolution printed maps of the search area.

Each of the four floors are in use by law enforcement, with the exception of the 9-1-1 center. Caridi referred to the latter department as "sacrosanct", adding the County has to ensure they are able to maintain emergency communications.

Agencies making use of the facility include the PA State Police, FBI, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security and even Interpol, the Commissioners said.

Secure office spaces were required, Caridi explained Training rooms in the facility offer the agencies phones, computers and other equipment.

Proud of their facility, which opened in June 2012, Caridi noted that Governor Corbett and the State Police officials have been very impressed with what Pike County has to offer.

"No one envisioned we would have to use this building for something so tragic," Caridi said. "Thank God it's there."

"As a county we're doing anything an everything to assist law enforcement to bring this [manhunt] to a conclusion as rapidly as possible," Caridi said. "We can't complement enough the people who work for this county, the dispatchers, 9-1-1 director, IT guy, training facility director, EMA director. Our community has been overwhelming in the outpouring of supplies to the Red Cross."

Caridi added, "Let's not focus on the heinous crimes of the bad guy, let's look at the beauty, the quality and character of the people in our community who have stepped up to the plate to band together to hopefully bring this to a conclusion."