GREENFIELD — Greenfield Fire Territory are working to give students in the community first hand experience of what being a firefighter is like.
The fire department is hosting 24 students from middle schools around Greenfield, where they will have the opportunity to learn from Greenfield firefighters about serving public safety.
“Our teen academy is super important,” explained Greenfield spokesperson Luke Eichholtz. “It also kind of acts as a recruiting tool, and maybe a retention tool.”
Eichholtz says that the fire department, among other public safety services, are struggling to attract applicants.
“I think if you go to any industry right now, you're going to hear that it's hard to hire. That's especially true for police and firefighters,” said Eichholtz. “The training that you need to go out right on the street is typically a year minimum. So, getting kids interested at an early age, and getting to get that training and have a little experience coming just out of high school is super beneficial.”
The students learn all kinds of lifesaving skills.
“They do CPR, they learn all the EMS skills that they would need going into EMT school,” said Eichholtz.
The goal is to be able to attract future firefighters early in their careers.
“Hopefully pull from that pool that we've been training for years as high schoolers to eventually become career firefighters here at Greenfield," said Eichholtz.
