At the Nassau County Fire Service Academy in Old Bethpage, the next generation of firefighters were recently put through the ringer in order to give them a taste of the hardships—and pride—that await in their future careers as first responders.
The Nassau County Junior Firefighters Association boasts a membership of more than 1,200 and 45 were given the chance recently to participate in the opportunity of a lifetime—training as their real-life heroes do at one of the most respected firefighter training facilities in the United States. Jerry Presta of East Norwich, chairman of the association, said it was formed to bring together individual fire departments across Nassau on a regular basis.
The training camps, held at the Fire Service Academy in Old Bethpage—a highly-regarded, 2.4-acre, state-of-the-art facility used to train volunteers for all of Nassau County’s 71 fire departments—are in their second year of existence and have proven wildly successful with the juniors.
“I approached the academy about five years ago and they were very receptive. We set up a program and curriculum, which took about two years to put together,” Presta said. “This is the second year that we’ve held the camp here, in partnership with the Boy Scouts of America…The camp is five days long—a solid 40 hours—the kids need to commit to it.”
While at the camp, Presta said that the junior firefighters undergo rigorous training using hands-on, real, working gear and facing real smoke and fire designed to familiarize them with nearly every aspect of being a professional firefighter in the field.
Due to its continued success, the program may be expanded further in upcoming years, with more exercises and drills. Presta noted that they may be getting some foreign exchange student firefighters in the near future, as certain exercises at this year’s camp were streamed live via Internet to young firefighters in Germany. In addition, the academy has been fielding inquiries from fire departments across the U.S. as well, since there are very few other places in the country that actually offer programs like this.
Jack Kelly, 15, of Hicksville, has been an enthusiastic junior firefighter for the past 18 months and said that getting involved in that noble profession was a family tradition he wanted to keep alive.
“My dad was a city fireman and I decided that I wanted to follow in his footsteps and someday do what he does,” he said. “I’ve learned so much at the camp—how to do a lot of different things, like how to do searches in a smoky house, how to put ladders up, tie ropes, how to stretch a hose line, EMS stuff, you name it.”
To find out more about the association, visit www.ncjfa.org.
