About the program:

The Montgomery County High School Fire Science Program is a longstanding fire and EMS cadet program for 11th and 12th graders in Montgomery County Public Schools. The program has 19 students this year and has the capacity for 25.  Students need to be 16 years of age the day class starts, have a 2.5 GPA and pass a health and fitness requirement. The program is two hours a day, five days a week throughout the school year.

The program was started in 1973 by Montgomery County firefighter and University of Maryland Fire and Rescue (MFRI) instructor Charles Gibbs. Charles noticed some high school students hanging out around Station #24 in Hillandale, Maryland. He decided to start training them in some basic firefighting skills, and so the program began. This effort led to a partnership with Montgomery County Schools and is available to students anywhere in the county. Since its inception, nearly 100 graduates have served in the fire department.

The program has two pathways: Fire science and EMS. If a student wants to pursue firefighting, it is recommended that they take the fire science pathway in their junior year and the EMS pathway in their senior year. Following this plan, students can graduate high school with their Firefighter 1 and 2 and their EMT-B. Students interested pursuing their EMT can take the EMS pathway. Classes in both pathways qualify for college credit if students decide to pursue a college fire science degree.

The program gives students opportunities to see all aspects of the fire service. We have gone up to Baltimore and down to D.C. to get out on their fire boats. To learn about our firefighting history, we have taken the students to The Fire Museum of Maryland. Our goal this year is to get out to Dulles or National airports to see the airport crash trucks.

Recruitment of students:

We market the program to students at career fairs, back-to-school fairs, college fairs and academy fairs. Last year, we produced a DVD that we show. The DVD can be viewed as well on the Montgomery County Fire and Emergency Services website. The department has also developed posters and brochures that we hand out. The posters have worked pretty well.

Montgomery County school staff have given us support and helped us to make our teaching more relevant for the students. We’ve also been able to go online with the school’s EdLine system.  

With EdLine, we can post homework and students’ grades and parents can see their child’s progress. It has made all of the administration of the program a lot easier. We love it.

Teachers:

The instructors for the cadet program are current instructors at the academy. Captain Dave Henrie is the lead instructor and has been working with the students for more than 13 years. Lt. Tom Potter has an amazing way with the students. We also have two nurses who teach advanced EMS. 

Montgomery County school staff have given us support and helped us to make our teaching more relevant for the students. We’ve also been able to go online with the school’s EdLine system. 

We can post homework, parents can see their child’s progress, it has online calendars and we can post students’ grades. It has made all of the administration of the program a lot easier. We love it.

Funding:

The program is a partnership with the schools. The school district gives the program about 1/8 of the funding. The remainder is covered by Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service. The Fire Department puts in about $200K/year. The program had a corporate sponsor last year with Nationwide Home Mortgage who funded T-Shirts and graduation gifts for the students. 

New things in the works:

The department is working with the school district to create a new 4-year Academy Program at Northwood High School in the south part of the county. The new program will involve students beginning in the 9th grade and they can continue the curriculum through graduation. It will include classroom work, experiential opportunities, physical fitness and mentoring

The department has a goal to create a way for the top five students who pass both pathways to become Montgomery County Firefighters.

Montgomery County gets a number of requests from departments around the country about how to start a program. We’re currently working on developing a “How-to” Guide that we plan to put on our website to help other departments who want to start a cadet program.

Lessons learned:

We hold students accountable for their behaviors. A lot of students are not used to discipline. We want them to know what will be expected of them if they become firefighters and paramedics. We teach them that life is about perception, and that as cadets in this program, they’re representing Montgomery County Fire and Rescue.

We used to give the cadets a lot of classroom training. We learned that we need to slow down and not give them too much information at one time or too fast. They need more time to practice to perfect their skills. We now focus more on the basics. 

One of the best lessons we learned was to reduce some of the class time and create as much ‘hands-on’ as possible. We found that the practical time helps the bookwork sink in.

We pay a lot of attention to safety. We’ve added additional instructors on practical exercises to make sure no one gets injured. Safety is job one!

Finally, I’ve learned follow-up with recruitment of students is critical. If someone says they’re going to sign-up, I need to follow-up six times. We also realized that this effort takes some marketing money and resources. But I tell you, it’s worth it!

Evaluating the program: 

We don’t have any formal evaluation tools or measures. It’s something I’d like to put into place. We measure the number of graduates. We do some tracking, but could do a better job of who actually gets a fire service or EMS job. Students are asked to write a paper on their own progress. If a student doesn’t pass academically and leaves the program, we do an exit interview to make sure we’re not missing anything. We’ve learned a lot from that.

We do consider feedback from parents as a form of evaluation. And I’m pleased to say that it’s very positive!

Support from the top:

“We know this is a long term investment,” says Deputy Chief Mike Clemmons. “We’ve learned that a lot of students simply don’t know about the program. If we do a good job each year, the cadets will become the best ad for the program, telling their friends and family members. My hope is that they’ll begin to use Twitter and Facebook to get the word around.”

 “We are always seeking ways to include more young women and young people of color,” says Fire Chief, Richie Bowers. “We see the Montgomery County High School Fire Science Program as an opportunity not just to teach fire and EMS skills to young people, but perhaps more importantly to teach them about values like responsibility, respect and integrity.”