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Pennsylvania Volunteer Departments Turn to High Schools for Recruitment
PATRICK BUCHNOWSKI
The Tribune-Democrat
DAVIDSVILLE - With declining ranks hurting volunteer fire departments nationwide, local firefighters are reaching out to high school students.
Volunteers from Conemaugh, Ideal, Hollsopple and Jerome fire departments on Thursday pitched the benefits of joining the fire service to more than 500 Conemaugh Township Area students at the high school auditorium.
They're looking to pass the torch to the next generation.
"There are guys involved in the fire department for 25-30 years and they don't have too much time left," firefighter Chad Knauer said. "I want the fire department to be here for the next 150 years."
The volunteers are recruiting junior firefighters ages 14 to 18.
From there, they can blossom into professional firefighters, EMS personnel, paramedics, nurses and water rescue members, firefighters said.
"We nurture them for the next four years through training and practicing the skills they need to become firefighters," said Robert Simonsick, chaplain for the Conemaugh company.
The 30-minute assembly included a video and display of firefighting gear.
The need for firefighters and EMS personnel is pushing recruitment to center stage, said Scott Grahn, manager of the Somerset County Swift Water Rescue Team.
"That's why we're here today," Grahn said.
Grahn helped student Shawn Dufrene slip into a life vest.
The 17-year-old said she would be interested in firefighter training.
"I think it would be useful to me," she said. "I'm more of a pacifist. I would rather help save lives."
Teenagers and adults wanting to know about the fire service can attend an open house. The doors will be open at the Conemaugh Fire Department from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday.
Young people are being encouraged to attend.
"A lot of kids are afraid (of joining)," Simonsick said. "They just need to come in and try it out and see if it works for them. That's the big thing."
Copyright 2009 The Tribune-Democrat
December 4, 2009
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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We nurture them for the next four years through training and practicing the skills they need to become firefighters
Which translates to we'll get 'em to roll hose, unroll hose, wash trucks, roll hose, unroll hose, wax trucks, roll hose, unroll hose, bastardize them, roll hose, unroll hose, wash trucks more, make senior members coffee, roll hose, unroll hose, make them polish our boots, roll hose, unroll hose, empty our bins, roll hose, unroll hose, tease them, roll hose, unroll hose, sweep the engine bay floors, roll hose, unroll hose, blame them for everything that goes wrong, roll hose, unroll hose, wash trucks again, roll hose, unroll hose clean the toilets, roll hose, unroll hose, vacuum the carpets, roll hose, unroll hose, wash our turn out gear (by hand), roll hose, unroll hose....
mmmm, sounds tempting to me.
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The game, America's Army" was also originally developed as a recruiting tool...
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Interesting map Jack. I wonder why the community supports this model with donations, taxes or however else they do it? I wouldn't be happy.
A consolidation would see a larger pool of members, better use of resources (not doubled up), better use of money, etc, etc
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PS - I started out as my fire department's first junior firefighter almost 30 years ago. Then again, look how I turned out...
Sheesh! See what happens with the lowering of the bar? ;-)
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Permalink Reply by Wes on
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Personal observations; Junior FF programs and Explorer programs work very well. When does good leadership begin? Go check out an explorer program and find out. Get involved, please, the next generation is looking up to us for an example. BSA programs have strict guidelines, become a leader and you'll learn, I did, best thing I ever did. Junior FF programs need good supervsion too. I'm sure there are places where this is lacking and is waiting for someone like us to get involved. If you haven't been involved go work with a group of young men and find out they are exactly that "young men". They will be the leaders of tomorrow, who are they going to have as a mentor??? Great programs take great leaders and committee members.
Personal peave; The media does a great job instilling fear, otherwise the first 20 minutes of the news would be telling us of the millions of great things that happened today & the last 10 minutes would be the few horrible things they can find. A bad example can always be found & is not representative of the group, just look at some of the sports icons that are held on a pedestal. We'd take them to the woodshed if they were our own. It isn't representative of sports/teams as a whole and is put in perspective by most folks. The same goes for these programs we are talking about, get involved and make these programs the best they can be!
Great feedback,
Be safe.
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Permalink Reply by timothy fento on
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sorry captain but i didn't start this post! like many of you think i just changed the heading!but sorry not me. but yes we do have jrs. in our dept and yes they do go on the calls with us and they do fight fire
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jack/dt i got the answers for my questions so i took them down i did not start this one and this area is more than 100 miles from me
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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Tiger:
Perhaps the jr. program coordinators should look at some of the "social networking" that their cadets are doing, because it is either reflective or not of the type of program that they run.
I applaud and support jr. programs. I do not support juniors who start threads or comments in other threads and are very vulgar and disrespectful to veteran firefighters here. And those comments should not be ignored. They should be dealt with.
Firefighting is all about discipline. You know that. If a junior is careless with their communicating, then how much attention to detail will they exert in the real deal.
And again; if there are exceptional explorer programs out there, then they aren't posting here at FirefighterNation. We are getting the wannabees.
I have thought outside the box for many years.
But, decisions like this are going to put KIDS IN THE BOX!
http://www.firefighternation.com/xn/detail/889755:Comment:4415822
"We have juniors and THEY GO TO FIRES!"
That is a recipe for disaster. Grave disaster.
TCSS.
Art
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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ok timothy good to know it was you and not some greater "censor" it's happened in here before.
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like i said before it was NOT me that started this topic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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And no disrespect to the great state of Pennsylvania, but they are usually in the Top 5 for firefighter fatalities in the country every year.
And they don't even fight wildland.
The state should look at this problem before they allow fire departments to ADD to it.
Kids DO NOT react the same way to emergencies as adults. Read Lairdsville if you don't believe me. On THAT day, the KIDS panicked and a firefighter died. A teenager died and another damned near did. Lives changed forever.
So, if that is what you're looking for, then giddy up go.
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