Staff report

NEWTON FALLS — Residents and business owners near Camp James A. Garfield Joint Military Training Center may notice an increase in blast noise from the area, as explosives will be used by the Ohio Army National Guard’s 216th Engineer Battalion, based in Cincinnati, during training exercises Saturday and Sunday.

Officials said the training is an important part of the unit’s military readiness, and the explosives used simulate realistic battle conditions. Sounds from the explosions may be heard farther away than what occurs during normal operations. There will be intermittent explosions and gunfire at the facility during annual training season, which runs through September.

Camp Garfield is an Ohio Army National Guard training site in Portage and Trumbull counties that consists of about 21,000 acres. It is undergoing major infrastructure improvements to become a world-class training center for Army and other Department of Defense units in the Midwestern U.S.

Among the recent improvements are a fire and movement range and a new automated record fire range.

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