Fire Camp offers unique summer experience

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Lindsey Maurice
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  Base children received an up-close look into the world of firefighting as they graduated from the Aviano Fire Department's first Fire Camp on July 3.

The week-long summer camp armed 28 aspiring firefighters with a basic knowledge of the career field and taught them how to protect themselves and help others in an emergency situation.

"We'd been looking for a way to get children more involved in fire services and the idea of fire camp seemed like a good one," said Bryant Nicodemus, 31st Civil Engineer Squadron fire prevention assistant chief. "Our goal was to teach the children most of the basic fire activities we are taught in the academy, with as much hands-on activities as possible."

During the camp, which was geared toward 10-13-year-olds, the children were given a brief history lesson on fire services and then introduced to various firefighting equipment throughout the week.

Various training blocks covered power tools, fire hoses, ladders, fire extinguishment, structural fire drills, aircraft live fire demonstrations, basic first aid and CPR and a final relay competition between the teams that incorporated most of what they learned during the week.

"We tried to make the camp as hands-on and interactive as possible such as letting the kids operate some of the power tools with our supervision in the car extraction block," said Mr. Nicodemus. "For many of the children, cutting up some of the old cars in our training site with the power tools was their favorite part."

Another exciting aspect of the camp for some of the children was the structural fire drill with search and rescue techniques.

During the drills, the children had to don their fire suits, sweep a simulated house in teams and retrieve any victims.

"The search and rescue was my favorite part," said Yellow Team member Kieran Fritzsche. "It was cool to get dressed up and go into the dark room and find the hose that represented a person and pull it out with a partner. Fire camp was a lot of fun."

Mr. Nicodemus said safety was also a large part of the camp instruction.

"We always stressed the importance of safety in everything a firefighter does," he said. "We wanted the kids to know that it's possible to have fun and be safe at the same time."

John Fisher, father of 10-year-old Jarod Fisher, who attended Fire Camp, said the experience proved to be a great one for his son.

"I thought Fire Camp would be a great opportunity for him to learn about a great profession and all they do," he said. "He's really enjoyed the experience. What he learned that day at camp is all he would talk about at night when he came home. It's nice to see a camp that involves learning rather than just playing with other kids."

Mr. Nicodemus said the firefighters are already looking ahead to the 2nd Annual Aviano Fire Camp next summer.

"I'd definitely say this year's camp was a success because all the kids looked forward to coming each day," he said. "Our objectives were for them to have fun and learn about being a firefighter and we accomplished just that. We're already gearing up for next year and possibly even opening it up to a second age group of 8-9 year olds. It should be fun."