Course At WACC Preparing Tomorrow’s Firefighters Today
May 20, 2017 at 12:15 a.m.
By David [email protected]
He has earned certifications in Firefighter I and II, Mandatory Firefighter, Hazmat 1st Responder Awareness and Operation and Technical Rescue Awareness through the fire rescue class at Warsaw Area Career Center. He’s been serving a co-op with the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory this semester.
“My friends did it the year before me and they said it was a good idea. I had no plans to be a firefighter until I took this class,” Rapp said. “My original plan was to be a cop. I took this and was like, ‘This is a lot more fun.’”
Trenton is the son of Sheri and Matt Rapp, who is a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department officer.
Marc Huffer has taught the fire rescue course since it started during the 2012-13 school year. Since it began, the course changed its name to Fire Rescue I & II and became a two-year program due to the amount of material in the class.
“The first year, you just go as far as you can. There’s no deadline, so to speak, that we had before,” Huffer said.
The program is for juniors and seniors, though sophomores can be accepted.
“Basically, all their certifications will become active as soon as they turn 18 regardless of when they got them,” he said.
There are four certifications they can obtain – A, B, C and D. Huffer said A is Mandatory Firefighting, which is required for a firefighter to be an active member of a fire department. Module B is Hazmat Awareness and Operations and allows a responder to recognize there’s a hazmat situation and know how to diffuse a situation but can’t directly work with the chemical. C is Firefighter I and required at most fire departments, including Warsaw’s, to become a paid member of a department. Firefighter II is Module D, but Huffer said that is an extra certification not required at all fire departments.
In the first four years of the fire rescue program at WACC, Huffer said not all students earned all the certifications. He estimated that about seven students received all four certifications and another 15 students earned at least Firefighter I.
“The reason being is because when we started this program, we were one of maybe two career centers that had that program. The state didn’t really know what to do with certification, so we could only get Firefighter I certification. That was the most we could get. And then in 2015, they changed it to the A, B, C, D four-tier module so now that allows everyone to get that certification. But it’s not easy,” Huffer said.
Among adults who take the courses, he said about 35 percent of applicants get the certification. “So it’s pretty cool (as a teacher) when I get a high number passing,” Huffer said. He said Indianapolis North Central had the program with 76 kids and only two were certified.
“We’ll probably have 15 kids in a class and we’ll probably certify seven of them. That’s a really good number.”
After taking Warsaw’s fire rescue program, Huffer said the students can continue on by going to a local fire department and getting involved in their courses.
Even for adults, Huffer said it’s difficult to get firefighter training because someone has to “stop their lives and teach a class.”
When Huffer, who has a master’s degree in education, took the certification class years ago, it was every Wednesday and Sunday evening for three hours unless it fell on a major holiday for a few years. He is an instructor 2-3, which is about the highest one can be.
“These kids have an opportunity to do that in a classroom every day at school, and they come out ready to go. And that’s what the plus is,” Huffer said.
The course isn’t just book work in the classroom. He said everything that is required for certification is done, and they use the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory training center. “Without that we probably couldn’t do it because we wouldn’t have the facilities, obviously, to do the correct training and practicals. Practicals are where you do the hands-on work. There’s certain standards and benchmarks you have to meet with that,” Huffer said.
At the training facility, there are old shipping containers where students learn how to do live fire attacks. It’s a controlled environment with self-contained breathing apparati, and firefighters and EMS on standby. They also do dumpster and car fires and the flashover chamber, which allows the progression of an actual fire to be observed.
Huffer said the flashover chamber “teaches kids the science behind a flashover, so if they’re ever in a situation where a flashover is brewing, they know the signs, or at least they got to experience, what it’s like to be in that and they can get over that.” A flashover is “where every single content of a room meets ignition temperature and it just – boom! The whole room – air, walls, everything – catches fire. If you’re in the middle of it, that’s you, too. And your fire gear won’t save you.”
Equipment for the course has been donated by the fire territory. Two sets of helmets came from Warsaw Education Foundation grants.
Along with Warsaw students, kids from Whitko, Tippecanoe Valley, Wawasee and West Noble have enrolled.
Rapp only took the course for a year. “It’s pretty hard. I studied a lot.”
Huffer said, “That’s the thing. Kids come in here thinking that it’s nothing but throw water on fire, that kind of thing. They get involved and realize it’s 85 chapters of coursework. Trenton scored the highest score on the test. He got a 96 because he read every single word, and you have to read.”
It paid off for Rapp because he got certified in modules A, B, C and D, though he had to retake the test for C and studied the book more for it. At his fire department co-op, he goes into actual house fires.
A couple of years ago, Huffer said some kids did co-ops with fire departments but weren’t able to do everything Rapp is able to do because they didn’t have the certifications.
“I was the first one to get on there with all of my certifications,” Rapp said.
Fifteen students have signed up for next year’s course.
“Firefighting is a noble profession,” Huffer said. “It’s a good career. It could really explode.”
He has earned certifications in Firefighter I and II, Mandatory Firefighter, Hazmat 1st Responder Awareness and Operation and Technical Rescue Awareness through the fire rescue class at Warsaw Area Career Center. He’s been serving a co-op with the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory this semester.
“My friends did it the year before me and they said it was a good idea. I had no plans to be a firefighter until I took this class,” Rapp said. “My original plan was to be a cop. I took this and was like, ‘This is a lot more fun.’”
Trenton is the son of Sheri and Matt Rapp, who is a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department officer.
Marc Huffer has taught the fire rescue course since it started during the 2012-13 school year. Since it began, the course changed its name to Fire Rescue I & II and became a two-year program due to the amount of material in the class.
“The first year, you just go as far as you can. There’s no deadline, so to speak, that we had before,” Huffer said.
The program is for juniors and seniors, though sophomores can be accepted.
“Basically, all their certifications will become active as soon as they turn 18 regardless of when they got them,” he said.
There are four certifications they can obtain – A, B, C and D. Huffer said A is Mandatory Firefighting, which is required for a firefighter to be an active member of a fire department. Module B is Hazmat Awareness and Operations and allows a responder to recognize there’s a hazmat situation and know how to diffuse a situation but can’t directly work with the chemical. C is Firefighter I and required at most fire departments, including Warsaw’s, to become a paid member of a department. Firefighter II is Module D, but Huffer said that is an extra certification not required at all fire departments.
In the first four years of the fire rescue program at WACC, Huffer said not all students earned all the certifications. He estimated that about seven students received all four certifications and another 15 students earned at least Firefighter I.
“The reason being is because when we started this program, we were one of maybe two career centers that had that program. The state didn’t really know what to do with certification, so we could only get Firefighter I certification. That was the most we could get. And then in 2015, they changed it to the A, B, C, D four-tier module so now that allows everyone to get that certification. But it’s not easy,” Huffer said.
Among adults who take the courses, he said about 35 percent of applicants get the certification. “So it’s pretty cool (as a teacher) when I get a high number passing,” Huffer said. He said Indianapolis North Central had the program with 76 kids and only two were certified.
“We’ll probably have 15 kids in a class and we’ll probably certify seven of them. That’s a really good number.”
After taking Warsaw’s fire rescue program, Huffer said the students can continue on by going to a local fire department and getting involved in their courses.
Even for adults, Huffer said it’s difficult to get firefighter training because someone has to “stop their lives and teach a class.”
When Huffer, who has a master’s degree in education, took the certification class years ago, it was every Wednesday and Sunday evening for three hours unless it fell on a major holiday for a few years. He is an instructor 2-3, which is about the highest one can be.
“These kids have an opportunity to do that in a classroom every day at school, and they come out ready to go. And that’s what the plus is,” Huffer said.
The course isn’t just book work in the classroom. He said everything that is required for certification is done, and they use the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory training center. “Without that we probably couldn’t do it because we wouldn’t have the facilities, obviously, to do the correct training and practicals. Practicals are where you do the hands-on work. There’s certain standards and benchmarks you have to meet with that,” Huffer said.
At the training facility, there are old shipping containers where students learn how to do live fire attacks. It’s a controlled environment with self-contained breathing apparati, and firefighters and EMS on standby. They also do dumpster and car fires and the flashover chamber, which allows the progression of an actual fire to be observed.
Huffer said the flashover chamber “teaches kids the science behind a flashover, so if they’re ever in a situation where a flashover is brewing, they know the signs, or at least they got to experience, what it’s like to be in that and they can get over that.” A flashover is “where every single content of a room meets ignition temperature and it just – boom! The whole room – air, walls, everything – catches fire. If you’re in the middle of it, that’s you, too. And your fire gear won’t save you.”
Equipment for the course has been donated by the fire territory. Two sets of helmets came from Warsaw Education Foundation grants.
Along with Warsaw students, kids from Whitko, Tippecanoe Valley, Wawasee and West Noble have enrolled.
Rapp only took the course for a year. “It’s pretty hard. I studied a lot.”
Huffer said, “That’s the thing. Kids come in here thinking that it’s nothing but throw water on fire, that kind of thing. They get involved and realize it’s 85 chapters of coursework. Trenton scored the highest score on the test. He got a 96 because he read every single word, and you have to read.”
It paid off for Rapp because he got certified in modules A, B, C and D, though he had to retake the test for C and studied the book more for it. At his fire department co-op, he goes into actual house fires.
A couple of years ago, Huffer said some kids did co-ops with fire departments but weren’t able to do everything Rapp is able to do because they didn’t have the certifications.
“I was the first one to get on there with all of my certifications,” Rapp said.
Fifteen students have signed up for next year’s course.
“Firefighting is a noble profession,” Huffer said. “It’s a good career. It could really explode.”
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