Toyota of San Bernardino
California Dealership Gives Back Before Wrecking Ball Strikes
Jan/Feb 2019
Before the Wrecking Ball
Cliff Cummings, owner and president of Toyota of San Bernardino, allowed local first responders to use his dealership for training before demolishing the structure.
Cliff Cummings, owner and president of Toyota of San Bernardino, allowed local first responders to use his dealership for training before demolishing the structure.
The relocation of Toyota of San Bernardino to a highly visible spot on the freeway created a unique opportunity to train first responders.
Cliff Cummings, owner and president of Toyota of San Bernardino, explained this was the perfect opportunity to help some of the city’s and county’s finest.
“It is great to give back, to help them with what they do,” Cummings said. “Hopefully this will help protect them and train them for being out in the field.”
The new location will replace a former Cadillac store and Scion facility. Cummings aggregated those properties, along with several others in the San Bernardino Auto Plaza in anticipation of this construction
“The north building is a large, cavernous structure that used to be a service department and worked well for the fire fighters to use with scaling the walls and roof,” Cummings said. “The south building, over the years has been a Hyundai, RV or Scion facility and now, after demolition and construction, will become the showroom for Toyota. The police are using it for close-in training as the building has multiple entrances and offices allowing them to practice for hostage situations".
The SWAT team, county fire departments and the canine unit of San Bernardino Police Department also used the building to train.
“We are always trying to find locations to train our officers,” said Detective Ernie Luna of the San Bernardino Police Department. “We were able to simulate active shooter drills in such a large location. It was so nice that these buildings were still maintained and had working bathrooms. Our officers were able to train in comfort.”
The training has been ongoing the past several months. Cummings said his Executive Assistant Liz Enright was instrumental in working with the various departments and scheduling times.
“We made some great friends at the department,” Cummings said. “It’s been a great partnership. One officer with PD was worried and told Liz they made some marks on the wall. We told him it was OK it was all coming down.”
The new dealership will feature the latest in technology and is set to be operational by January 2020.
Cliff Cummings, owner and president of Toyota of San Bernardino, explained this was the perfect opportunity to help some of the city’s and county’s finest.
“It is great to give back, to help them with what they do,” Cummings said. “Hopefully this will help protect them and train them for being out in the field.”
The new location will replace a former Cadillac store and Scion facility. Cummings aggregated those properties, along with several others in the San Bernardino Auto Plaza in anticipation of this construction
“The north building is a large, cavernous structure that used to be a service department and worked well for the fire fighters to use with scaling the walls and roof,” Cummings said. “The south building, over the years has been a Hyundai, RV or Scion facility and now, after demolition and construction, will become the showroom for Toyota. The police are using it for close-in training as the building has multiple entrances and offices allowing them to practice for hostage situations".
The SWAT team, county fire departments and the canine unit of San Bernardino Police Department also used the building to train.
“We are always trying to find locations to train our officers,” said Detective Ernie Luna of the San Bernardino Police Department. “We were able to simulate active shooter drills in such a large location. It was so nice that these buildings were still maintained and had working bathrooms. Our officers were able to train in comfort.”
The training has been ongoing the past several months. Cummings said his Executive Assistant Liz Enright was instrumental in working with the various departments and scheduling times.
“We made some great friends at the department,” Cummings said. “It’s been a great partnership. One officer with PD was worried and told Liz they made some marks on the wall. We told him it was OK it was all coming down.”
The new dealership will feature the latest in technology and is set to be operational by January 2020.
