June, 2004

Fire Department Apprentices

The Fire Department has just successfully completed the first year in a new apprenticeship program. The program is dedicated to providing high school students with an opportunity to experience life as a Paid-On-Call fire fighter. The students that participated this year are Heather Block & Rick VanHorn JR. Heather graduated from Northview High School and is considering attending college at GRCC. Rick Graduated from Rockford High School and will be attending GRCC. They have been excellent additions to the department, providing a high level of interest in emergency service and energy. Heather was fortunate (?) enough to be the passenger on the Fire Departments winning entry in the Rockford Bed Race.

We intend to run this program whenever there are interested students who meet our criteria. The apprenticeship program allows high school students less than 18 years of age to train with a fire department. The criteria to participate in this program includes; letters of permission from your parent or guardian, and the school principal, use of acceptable transportation, a clean driving record, the ability to pass a physical, a physical ability test and to respond to one of the stations within 10 minutes. There are two options for the prospective apprentice, they may enroll in a fire fighter class or elect to postpone the class till after graduation. The fire fighter classes are very time intensive and may not fit into a student’s schedule, it is not our desire to cause a student to perform poorly in school because of their affiliation with us so we allow them to make the decision. If a student is active in after school activities such as band, sports or choir we recommend that they not take the fire fighter classes until after graduation. Without an apprenticeship program you must be 18 years old to train to be a fire fighter according to State of Michigan guidelines.

The fire department is interested in recruiting Paid-On-Call fire fighters to supplement our full-time staff. If you are interested in serving your community you may be a candidate for a job with us. If you are interested please stop by one of the fire stations and ask for an application.