Graduation day for Vermont junior firefighters

PITTSFORD, Vt. (WCAX) - Sunday was graduation day for Vermont’s junior firefighters.

“I really enjoy helping people in any way I can, so this was a really good experience for me,” said Ava Chauvin of Hyde Park.

Thirty-one junior firefighters, aged 14-17, from all over New England are passionate about fire service, that’s why they applied for extra training from the Vermont Fire Academy in Pittsford.

“We have worked on extrication this week, we’ve been in the burn buildings doing search and rescue, we do ropes and knots,” said Cailyn Carrier of Hyde Park.

The Vermont Fire Cadet Academy is a yearly program where students hone their firefighting and emergency response skills. The junior firefighters come from departments all over the state.

“I have learned so much more than I probably could have learned at just my department alone,” said Bailey Shepard of Wolcott.

The group spent the week with local search and rescue groups, learning marching skills, and even spent time with the Burlington Fire Department and the Air National Guard.

Brad Carrier of VSFA, the Cadet Academy chief, said training involved “Hose lines, search and rescue ladders, low angle rescue, all types of stuff that the fire service does.”

The hands-on skills of firefighting aren’t the only takeaways for the cadets.

Natalie Gouge from Marshfield said, “You don’t just learn how to put out fires, you learn how to be disciplined, you learn how to act toward others in a way people can’t learn.”

While the skills learned this week will be helpful when they return to their volunteer fire departments, the chief said completing this week will also give students a leg up when they turn 18 if they continue to want to pursue the fire service.

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