Jan 6, 20214 min read

Exploring an Abandoned SWAT Training Facility

Welcome to the Abandoned SWAT House

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GETTING IN!

This SWAT facility is a newer abandoned spot, which means it hadn't been boarded up at the time of posting this blog and the video. Unfortunately for us explorers, this surely will not be the case for much longer. I linked up with my friend Vikers to explore this spot and when we were wrapping up our shoot, a police officer and three firemen were entering the property to assess the state of the building. We thought we were going to get fined, but the officer just asked us why we were so fascinated with abandoned places, to which I told him I was working on my second urbex photography book. Speaking of which, if you'd like a copy, you can get one in the SHOP.

As for getting in, we walked right through the hole in the gate, across the property, and into the building. We were met by a few scrappers and homeless folks that stay in the area. Nothing too crazy this time.

THE VIDEO

Upon entering we found a staircase and began to ascend it to the first floor. On the first floor we found some wooden structures that were used for SWAT training operations. It was set up to look like any building that they may have to sweep or breach. We found a few of their shooting range targets that they left behind. I wanted to do a SWAT light painting to commemorate this exploration. I typically do at least one light painting photo per exploration.

THE SPOILS

Most of the content from this exploration was captured on my GoPro hero 8, so if you want to see more of what this place looks like, check out the YouTube video linked above. Like I said, this place is super well known and is sure to be burned now, which means that it's properly sealed up, to keep explorers and vandals out. It was such a cool place and I'd love to play a round or two of paintball here someday, if possible!

I love that you can see the city skyline from here. Usually it looks like shit here, but we got lucky enough to have a clear day where the buildings are sparkling.

THE EXTERIOR

After two hours of exploring the inside of the training center we decided to step outside to see what else there was to see. We found that burned out car and bus and before we filmed in the bus my friend Vikers told me there were firemen on the property. I thought he was pranking me, like he does sometimes, but sure enough, there were three firemen and a police officer. Surprisingly, they were extremely friendly and the officer asked us if we were photographers and what we were taking photos of. I told him that I was working on my second urban exploration book and he found that quite interesting. After about a two minute conversation he just told us to watch where we stepped and they left us to go into the building. I'm not sure what their purpose was, but I assume they had heard that there were people in the building and they were assessing the building to figure out how to seal it up.

It's always a sad day when our bandos get boarded up, but alas, this is just a part of the story of urban exploration.

THE MUSIC VIDEO

Here's the music video we filmed at this location, it's for a cover of a Dropout Kings song called BURN1! I felt like the burned up car and burned out bus were the perfect backdrops for this song, even though it's about weed :p. Check it out and let me know what you guys think!