A group of high school students headed to the Palomino Fire Station for hands-on training on wildland firefighting.
Organizers are hopeful this will spark students to pursue a career in firefighting.
Students from the Academy of Arts Career & Technology High School (AACT) got the chance for firsthand experience in training for wildland firefighting.
The training will help students apply the learned skills in real-life settings, gain insights into managing wildfires, and, if they choose, will prepare them for a career in wildland firefighting.
Jennifer Diamond, the State Lead with the United States Wildland Fire Service, described this training, “one station is mobile attack, which means they are getting to practice spraying water while moving and kind of the trucks moving with them, just as if they were to be fighting fire on an active edge of a road. And then, the other station is where they get to deploy hose packs.”
Organizers say this training is for the next generation because eventually they may face a time when their lives are affected by a fire.
They tell us it's important to protect Nevada's communities and land by training tomorrow's firefighters. Students who attended said they feel this is a great introduction to firefighting and even found other ways to be involved within the field.
High school senior Nick Sevigny said, "This summer I will be participating and being a wildland firefighter, and so a lot of that, I know it's going to be exciting because the fire, you know, especially living here in Nevada, it's going to be quite a bit of work, like a lot of work.”
Those graduating this spring are eligible for federal wildland fire crew positions at the age of eighteen. Some students shared that they will be the first in their families to be firefighters.
