When you were growing up did you dream of being a fire fighter? Do "smoke eaters" conjure up romantic images of heroics while battling fires? Some people in Northwestern Minnesota are getting a chance to live the dream. In Moorhead, the local fire department has organized its first citizens fire academy. As Mainstreet Radio's Bob Reha reports, the idea is not to train folks to join the department, but to give them a better awareness of what it is the department does.
MARTY SOETH: This is the jaws of life, one of them. So it's all set to go.
BOB REHA: Moorhead Fire Chief Marty Soeth explains some of the equipment on the department's emergency response truck. Chief Soeth is preparing for the nine-week-long Citizens Fire Academy. After closing up the truck, he continues to tour the fire station, explaining how the firefighters' job has changed.
MARTY SOETH: We're a department now that doesn't just do-- respond to fires. We do a lot of other things.
BOB REHA: Soeth says the department actually responds to more emergency calls than fires. He says the fire academy is an effort to make citizens more aware of that evolution.
MARTY SOETH: And I think the awareness of the services, too, make the citizens feel a little bit better, that if they do have this problem, that we are well-trained and well-prepared to deal with just about anything that happens.
BOB REHA: The Academy's first class numbers about a dozen.
MICHELLE HERMANN: Michelle Hermann. I'm a social worker at Rural Minnesota South.
DAN HERMANN: Dan Hermann. I work for Cass County Correctional Center.
BOB REHA: The nine-week program starts with a bit of a history lesson on the department.
MARTY SOETH: This is just a couple of the horses that were--
BOB REHA: But this is a class prone to unexpected interruptions.
SPEAKER 1: Officers there to Nemzek. House, small fire, 500 block of 11th Street South.
[FIRE TRUCK SIREN WAILING]
BOB REHA: After a few moments of excitement, class resumes. Some of the students are city employees. Some are college students. Others work at restaurants. Mark Carlton is a mechanic.
MARK CARLTON: I worked on fire trucks when I was back in school. I worked on them still now as a mechanic. And I've always had the itch to become a volunteer firefighter. It's something that just keeps eating at me.
BOB REHA: Carlton is also a leader of a local Boy Scout troop. He says the academy is an opportunity to learn skills to pass along to his kids.
MARK CARLTON: Rescue skills, rappelling, and stuff like that. Stay on top of the first aid, something I can go back and teach the boys, help them with their first aid badges and emergency preparedness.
BOB REHA: Fire academy participants will learn a lot. There's fire prevention, first aid, a crash course in how the department deals with hazardous materials. They'll learn how to use firefighting tools, including the breathing apparatus used in smoke-filled buildings.
[FIRE ALARM RINGS]
SPEAKER 2: When you first start to hear that bell--
BOB REHA: Academy participants learn from many different trainers. The department's hazardous material team is instructing the class on the warning system on the mask and tanks. Bells mean you have five minutes of air left. And this alarm means a firefighter is not moving.
[ALARM RINGS]
SPEAKER 2: The alarm is actually quite loud and quite annoying.
[LAUGHTER]
One more time.
BOB REHA: The course will end with what could be seen as a rite of passage. Class members can choose to accompany firefighters into a burning building. Class member Mark Carlton says he's up for the challenge.
MARK CARLTON: We'll see what the firefighters go through and see what it's like and go out and put out some fires. I'm looking forward to going into a burning building and fight my way out.
BOB REHA: Moorhead Fire Department officials are optimistic the academy will not only raise awareness for what they do but that people will learn how to prevent fires and maybe even save lives. Bob Reha, Minnesota Public Radio, Moorhead.
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