During their final practical training of the year, cadets in the Howell Public Schools Fire Academy last week came face to flame with actual fire in the Hamburg Township Fire Department Burn Tower.
Throughout the day, platoons of students entered the specialized burn building to experience a fire up close. While in the building, the cadets completed several exercises, such as observing how a fire begins, grows, and behaves; pulling hoses; and performing search and rescue operations in a smoke-filled room. The training put all the skills the cadets learned this school year to the test.
The fire was already burning when the cadets arrived and started putting what they learned to work.
“We advanced the hose line in, all three of us working as a team” said Cadet Caitlin Thomas. “I was on the nozzle, so I crawled in, felt the door for heat, felt it was warm, so I expected the fire to be in there. I opened the door, and the fire was there. I crawled a couple of feet in, sprayed it with a straight stream, and backed out.”
It was an exciting training, Thomas said.
“It was like the first day of school but a lot better because this is fun,” she said. “I thought about everything we had learned and just went for it and hoped for the best. I felt very prepared, over-prepared, actually.”
The live burn training is the cadets’ final practical training of the year. Over the course of the school year, cadets in the program complete the required classroom and practical training needed to earn their state firefighters certification.
A graduation ceremony for this year’s cadets is set for Monday, June 5, in the Howell High School Rod Bushey Performing Arts Center.
