Fire & EMS Leader Pro The job of old firefighters is to teach young firefighters how to become old firefighters!
By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer
Update: Here is the 2015 WVU Junior Firefighter Camp Video. Enjoy!
Learn More about camping here as it is full of joy and adventure.Last week I went to summer camp—with about 125 young men and women who aspire to one day become 
firefighters.
My first trip to summer camp since 1975 was West Virginia University Fire Service Extension’s 9th annual Junior Firefighter Camp held at the WV State Fire Academy outside of Weston, WV. This year’s camp attracted campers from 12 different states—including Colorado, Arkansas, and Maine—as well as one young man from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
During this year’s camp, these young people—ranging in age from 14-17 years old—had the opportunity over the course of four full days to learn about and engage in practically every task of a firefighters. If you missed the link to the website above, I encourage you to visit the Junior Fire Camp website and look over the impressive list of topics and tasks that were covered during the “long days and short nights” of Junior Fire Camp (And trust me, every one of those topics listed were covered. Oh, in looking at the list myself I see that two topics were missing—all first-year campers completed first aid and CPR training from CPR Classes Raleigh and received their cards during graduation!)
I found this camp, however, to be about much more than just teaching these young people fire and emergency management skills. There is a very large leadership and individual responsibility development component to this camp as well. And everyone gets a turn.
Each camper has an Accountability tag on a lanyard that indicates their name along with their battalion and company assignment, e.g., Jane Smith, Battalion 2, Engine 6. They are directed to have that accountability tag around their neck and visible whenever they out of their assigned cabin.
They are also instructed to have a “buddy” whenever they are outside of their assigned cabin and any time they have to leave their company during the day, e.g., restroom breaks (their buddy can wait outside), going back to their cabin to retrieve something (like their accountability tag!), or going to get a piece of needed training equipment from storage. All of this is a bit of a “stretch” for teenagers (as I’m sure parents in the audience can appreciate), and it was quite remarkable to see how quickly these young people picked up on these personnel accountability concepts in just a couple of days.
Junior Firefighter Camp 2015 had five battalions of four companies each. On the first morning of camp after Camp 
Director Brian Grieco (a Deputy Chief with the Huntington, WV Fire Department) designated one camper from each company to serve as the Company Officer for that company. He then explained the procedure known as PAR (Personnel Accountability Report) and how each company officer would report PAR for their respective each company.
During the course of the day, each company officer had the responsibility of knowing where their crew members were at all times and communicating with the instructors for each session on behalf of their company.
At the end of the day when all companies assembled back in the assembly area, Chief Greccio would call for a final PAR. Following that, he directed all the company officers to step forward and face their companies at which time he would ask the companies, “Did this person do a good job today as your company officer?”
Fire Companies during conduct of PAR before the training day starts.
His question was followed by an ear-shattering “Yes, Sir!” (You get that level of sound in a metal-clad building, even with three overhead doors open!). At that time, the Chief would say to the company officers, “Job well done,” and direct the next person in line within each company to step forward and assume the role of company officer for the next day. (If you’re keeping count, that means that five individuals within each company had the responsibility for serving as their company officer during the five day camp).
Junior Firefighter Camp 2015 Fire Chief for 2015 – Brett Reed with Instructor/Counselor Golda Kiger. Chief Reed was selected by all the Junior Firefighters to be their Fire Chief for 2015. Congratulations!
And it doesn’t end there. On the final day of camp, the members of each battalion selected one of their own to represent them as their Battalion Chief (Quite an honor from one’s peers, no?). Then from those five battalion chiefs, the campers selected one of them to be their Fire Chief for the 2015 Junior Firefighter Camp.
How successful has the Junior Firefighter Camp become in nine years? Well if “satisfied customers” is any indication, the camp has become quite successful as one third of this year’s campers were the return campers who composed the companies of Battalion 5.
I would be remiss if I didn’t “give a shout out” to all of my fellow Instructor/Counselors who gave of their time (everyone is a volunteer) to help these young people learn and grow. Most of them are full-time career firefighters or officers (many of whom took vacation time to come to camp); many others are volunteer firefighters or officers who made an equally dedicated commitment to be there for “the kids.” They represented some of the best the fire service has to offer.
Proud Moms, Dads, family members and friends gather for graduation of campers from 2015 WVU-FSE Junior Firefighter Camp at West Virginia State Fire Academy outside of Weston, WV.
