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School kids were putting on respirators, climbing ladders, rolling out hoses, and dousing flames at Kelowna's main fire hall today. The annual Firefighter Boot Camp is a chance for the pros to show-off what they do, and a chance for young people to get a feel for the job.
"It's great to have the young people here to show them what kind of a job it is to be a firefighter," said fire inspector Rick Euper. "Give them that little taste of 'Hey, do I want to be a firefighter when I leave school?' type of thing."
The school district brought 70 kids from five different schools to the event. "We have kids in the garage there putting on respirators and feeling what the equipment is like," said School District Program Coordinator Sarah Wood. "And we have a group of students behind us and what they're doing is running up the stairs with the fire hose and they're getting timed and they get to relay it down to their partner down below and then over here we have group of students and they're actually putting on harnesses and they're climbing right up the ladder up high to see what it's like to fight a fire from up above."
Euper said the interest that starts for some of the young people on a day like this can lead to something real.
"I've seen ones come through here that are now working in a fire department, so that's even better," he said.
"It could definitely, potentially be something I could be interested in doing in the future," said student Evan Fejer. "It would be really cool to save people."
The fire hall boot camp is part of the school district's Career life Program.
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