Options on display at Outdoor Career Day

MATTAWA — No question, life as a firefighter can be demanding, as the abbreviated version of the physical agility test set up by Grant County Fire District 8 demonstrated.

Participants dragged a length of fire hose, used a sledgehammer, dragged a dummy a specified distance, then dragged it back. That, said Wahluke High School student Ricardo Sandoval, was the real challenge.

“That dummy killed me, bro,” he said to one of the firefighters manning the GCFD 8 booth on Outdoor Career Day Friday morning.

Sandoval said firefighting is one of the possibilities for a career once he graduates.

“I was thinking about it, and a lot of my friends were thinking about it too,” he said.

But he wasn’t sure it was for him, he said, since he’s more of a computer kind of guy. He’s still not sure but he’s looking into it, he said, starting with some conversation with the GCFD 8 firefighters.

That’s kind of the point of Outdoor Career Day, said WHS engineering teacher John Ellsworth, to get students thinking about what they’re going to do when they graduate, and what sort of jobs are available to them. He had a discussion with his students before they went outside, he said, and most of them haven’t thought much about their post-graduation options at all.

“Experience is everything,” he said, and Career Day gives WHS students experience in opportunities they might not get otherwise.

He too tried the firefighting agility course and agreed it was a challenge.

“My legs are jelly,” he said.

Washington State Patrol trooper Daniel Mosqueda said it gave the WSP the chance to give students information on a law enforcement career and to highlight a lesson about safety behind the wheel. The WSP brought a pedal car and a pair of glasses that demonstrated the dangers of distracted driving.

“One in four collisions are caused by a distracted driver in our state,” Mosqueda said.

Students put on the glasses, then tried to pedal around an obstacle course — but Diego Perez said the glasses made what should’ve been an easy task pretty tough. The glasses are equipped with flashing lights, and it does distract from the task at hand.

“It’s pretty fun, but it’s kind of hard. It was difficult to see,” said WHS student Esteban Lopez.

“It was so different,” Perez said.

Career Day featured a booth from the building trades and a visit from a Washington National Guard helicopter. Students could learn about a career with South Columbia Basin Irrigation District and jobs maintaining farm machinery, among others.

“We are looking for people,” said Scott Hart of the sheet metal workers (SMART) Local 55.

The local offered some candy to students, with a twist - or rather a hand crank. Candy was delivered via an auger system built by an apprentice. Hart said it was constructed from a single piece of sheet metal.

Fire District 8 Chief Matt Hyndman said he was focusing not just on post-secondary training for the fire service, but also on alternative paths, including the fire science at the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center and the resident program at GCFD 8 and other fire districts and fire departments in the region.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.