BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA FIRE ACADEMY
BY RICHARD BENNE
California?s Fire Exploring 21st Academy recently was held for its 22nd year?in Vallejo, California, for the third consecutive year. Sponsored by the California Fire Exploring Association, a nonprofit group of explorer posts (Boy Scout troops) throughout California, the academy teaches Boy Scout participants the firefighting techniques of wildland/oil/structural firefighting, auto extrication, and Fire Control III in an environment and classroom only a handful of young people will ever experience. For one week, 160 Boy Scouts ages 16 to 20 are organized into battalions, companies, and squads. They learn and develop leadership and decision-making skills and become acquainted with the concept of teamwork.
The academy is the result of six months of planning by youth leaders who are members of the fire service and come from as far north as Butte County and as far south as San Diego County. Each post/troop is given a list of the training areas in advance?for example, SCBA proficiency and hose handling?and then participants are given the chance to piece it all together and see what it is like in a live burn. The adviser-to-Scout ratio is about 1:5; the Boy Scouts insure the event and assume all liability.
The goal of the academy is twofold: to create good citizens (participants work to raise the money to attend, which keeps them busy and points them in the right direction) and to see if they want firefighting as a career (by participating in a fire).
ACTIVITIES
During the academy, virtually all phases of the fire service are touched on, and safety is always the first concern. The element of danger is present in almost all activities, even in the most Ocontrolled situations.O
Every day starts at 0500 hours, with calisthenics followed by breakfast. After breakfast, battalions are bused off to classes of auto extrication, gas/oil firefighting, or wildland firefighting techniques for an entire day of training. After all the battalions rotate through each class, the Obig showO is ready to start. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the battalions rotate among wildland, heavy rescue, and Fire Control III. The final OburndownO is Saturday afternoon, and graduation is held on Sunday morning.
Fire Control III, like all other classes, is a hands-on manipulative class that requires direct cadet involvement. The classroom virtually is a burning building where the benefits and negative effects of direct attack, indirect attack, straight streams, fog streams, and ventilation are discussed, demonstrated, and observed (up close and personally). Hoselines are advanced for an interior attack and eventually are used for exposure protection in a defensive mode when the final OburndownO is underway.
ADMINISTRATION
The success or failure of the academy is a shared responsibility between the cadets and advisers. Advisers and volunteers do the planning, organizing, and scheduling; however, a chief staff of Fire Explorers is responsible for implementing the plan and has the authority to make decisions within a general framework to control the efficient flow of work and assignment of required tasks.
According to its planners, the academy is a lot of work, and the department, city, and community must buy into it to host it. The academy receives help from private businesses and community volunteers for food, housing, cooking, and other resources and services. n
RICHARD BENNE is a firefighter with the Vallejo (CA) Fire Department, assigned to a truck company.
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Photos by author.
