Future Firefighters
CRANBERRY TWP — Aspiring firefighters have the chance to get hands-on experience this week with fire safety, equipment and training as junior recruits at the township Volunteer Fire Company's Cadet Fire Academy.
The free summer camp, a new addition to the VFC's new firefighter recruitment efforts, runs from through Friday and describes itself as “facilitating fun while forming future firefighters.”
The program was created by two Cranberry Fire and Emergency interns, Aidan Upton and Nathan Hezlep, who have been volunteers with the fire company since their teen years.
Reaching out to youth
A major goal of the summer camp is to get young people excited about being volunteer firefighters.
Teens as young as 14 can apply to be junior firefighters and support adult first responders in dealing with emergencies. Junior firefighters often help with water supply, stabilizing vehicles and ladders — anything except operating cutters or spreaders or entering a burning building.
“A huge thing is just awareness,” said Upton. “I don't think a lot of people know that they're able to volunteer, period.”
Nine kids, ages 14-18, are part of the camp. Students still can sign up to participate throughout the week.
“The goal is to get kids interested, and hopefully they will sign up as firefighters with us,” said Lori Lowry, who works with Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company. “We also want to promote and educate, with fire safety and even little things like how to evacuate if they ever had to evacuate their own house.”
“You've gotta start that interest young — it's hard to get people who have already started their lives to commit,” said Hezlep.
Hezlep and Upton created a weeklong slate of activities for the kids. On Monday, campers tried on fire-resistant uniforms and got to participate in a fire extinguisher demonstration at the training center. Later in the week, they'll learn about engine operations, truck and ladder operations and rescue operations, as well as practice first aid and get CPR certified.The two interns put together the program on short notice to try and reach kids before they went back to school this fall. They are looking forward to potentially holding the camp with even more activities in future years.“The past few weeks, we've been submerged in trying to get all the materials together for this class and getting resources assigned,” Hezlep said. “I've worked with the summer camps that the township does, so I have an idea of how to keep kids occupied, but this is so different.”“We've never done this before,” added Upton. “This is definitely a trial run. Kids are coming here expecting to learn how to be a fireman, and so we have to figure out how best to teach them to do that.”Jack Carney, the company's volunteer fire prevention and safety coordinator, taught the campers about fire safety in a presentation. He demonstrated fire extinguishers and offered tips on how to stay secure in an emergency.“You can get hurt if you don't know what you're doing, and if you don't train to know what you're doing,” Carney said. “People die from fires when they don't do the right thing on time.”
Many of the participating campers have family or friends who are involved in public safety or fire departments across Western Pennsylvania.Faith Moore, 18, of Ross Township, said her father is a firefighter; Niyier Johnson, 15, of Pittsburgh, mentioned his mentor, who works with the fire department in Adams Township.“My uncle was a firefighter for a couple of years, and he always told me stories about it, so I figured I'd try it out,” said Tanner Dunn, 14, of Cranberry.Chief Scott Garing says that kind of family connection is often what brings volunteers in.“We always have that presence of hey, let's get someone involved, but generally they follow family ties, someone whose father or best friend is involved in it. If they have no outside relation to the organization, it's almost impossible to get a “cold call” of a junior who has no background in public safety,” said Garing.
Garing credits Upton and Hezlep with “the lion's share” of the work on putting the camp together.'With the internship that we have here, they are the reason this happened. They were able to design this thing from the ground up, and we were able to work with the professionals within the township to make it what it is,” he said.According to Garing, half of the camp's students have already said they want to sign up to be junior firefighters, which he says is encouraging.“If we get one applicant out of this for a junior membership, then it's beneficial,” he said.
