High school students from Warrensville Heights and other Cleveland-area school districts donned firefighting gear and hazmat suits to participate in a one-of-a-kind program this summer.
The teens learned how to fight fires and respond to emergencies at the Public Safety Summer Academy at the Cuyahoga Community College Western Campus in Parma.
Five students from the Tri-Heights Fire Tech program based at Warrensville Heights High School took part in the hands-on training at Tri-C ‘s Key Bank Public Safety Training Center.
Amaree Brown, a rising junior at Warrensville High, was thrilled to take part in the academy, which included battling a controlled car fire, responding to a hazmat situation, and search and rescue missions in a two-story, cement-block building filled with artificial smoke.
“We learned how to put one hand on the wall and one hand on another firefighter’s shoulder to stay together,” Amaree explained after a training exercise in the building. “We learned to put our face near the floor so we can see.”
Amaree will enter the Tri-Heights Fire Tech program in the coming school year. She will be one of 26 juniors and seniors in the program, said Antoine Crews, fire tech instructor.
Amaree said there aren’t enough female firefighters, and she hopes to become one. Indeed, a goal of the Tri-C program is to recruit more female and minority candidates for public safety jobs in Northeast Ohio.
“There is a need to get more women and minorities involved in public safety and give them opportunities to be in leadership roles,” said Terry Muff, project manager for public safety education at Tri-C. “This program gives them hands-on experience. We gear them up 100 percent, so they understand what it’s like.”
Derrick Buck, who graduated in the Warrensville Heights Class of 2019, went through the summer academy last year and returned this summer to help the instructors.
“Every instructor here pushed me to be better,” Derrick said. “They taught me the meaning of integrity and discipline. I am grateful.”
The Tri-Heights Fire Tech program started in the 2016-17 school year, serving students from Warrensville Heights, Maple Heights, Bedford Heights, Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights. The program provides students 60 credit hours toward an associate’s degree, emergency medical training and a firefighter’s license, with certification.
Warrensville Heights and other school districts with similar programs train their students at the 10-acre Tri-C training center during the school year.
“This is where the career path starts,” said Director James Copeland. “It all starts with the career programs in the schools.”