FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - Teaming up with community firefighters, 12 junior firefighters put their skills to the test and competed in different skill challenges Saturday at North Schuylkill High School.
Sponsored by the school district's junior firefighters group, the competition was held in the lower parking lot at the high school. The participants - all North Schuylkill students - were joined by firefighters and equipment from the communities within the school district: Ashland, Butler Township, Conyngham Township, Frackville, Girardville, Gordon, Ringtown and Union Township. Altamont in West Mahanoy Township was also represented, which is in the Shenandoah Valley School District.
"I think this is the best thing for our volunteer problem," Girardville fire Chief Frank Zangari said before the competition began. Zangari is also the chairman of the training committee of the Schuylkill County Volunteer Firefighters Association. "With the volunteer problems in Schuylkill County, this is a kickoff to a new beginning."
Before the timed skills events began, Zangari and North Schuylkill science teacher Ryan McGurl took the students to each location and explained what was expected of them in each competition and showing them the proper procedures. McGurl is the adviser to the group and made a request to the school board to form the group, which was approved at the board's December meeting.
The skill events included setting up ladders at a building, speed in putting on turnout gear, obstacle course, filling a barrel with water using five-gallon buckets, a hose hookup from a fire hydrant to two fire trucks in series and crawling into a building in order to find a person on a floor and then identifying a fire there and using the proper fire extinguisher for the job.
The event began with the junior firefighters taking a written test based on training manuals. The test is worth 40 percent of the point total.
For the ladder competition tutorial, Zangari explained how to open a folding ladder, run to the building and place it properly. The hose hook-up event explanation showed the students how to connect a hose to a hydrant, then to the Lavelle Volunteer Fire Company fire truck, followed by connecting from that truck to the Rangers Hose Company (Girardville) fire truck, and then connecting one more hose that has the nozzle on it for firefighting.
Another competition involved two-person teams filling two five-gallon buckets with a fire hose, then walking as fast as possible to a large barrel a short distance away and filling a quarter of the barrel through a small hole in the lid.
"This is tricky. This is 30 gallons of water a minute," Zangari explained, showing how the hose should be used to fill the buckets. "If I open this hose too fast, that bucket is going across the parking lot and you'll be running after it. If I put the hose straight down in there, everybody here is going to get wet real quick and the bucket is going to take off. You need to open it slow and fill it slow. I'm telling you, if you don't, we're going to laugh at you."
The final and most intense skill event was crawling into a building following one of two hoses, one that led to a dummy on the floor representing a fire victim, the other hose leading to the fire. The objective was to find the person first, then go to the fire. At that time, the junior firefighters learned whether it was a wood or electrical/grease fire. After learning the type of fire, one student left the building to get the proper fire extinguisher for that type of fire and go back in.
Zangari also showed the proper way to put on a Scott air pack, a breathing device that allows firefighters to enter smoke-filled spaces.
The students were given points for their time to complete each competition.
North Schuylkill senior Michael Zangari, Girardville, is a charter member of the group and son of the fire chief. He said he believes that the competition will held bring in more youth into the fire service.
"There are some different challenges in the events, but they are different aspects that we see at every call, one way or another," Michael Zangari said. "It's to make a junior think since they're still learning. These guys are between 14 and 18, so they're still learning, including myself. We're all the young lads in the fire service."
He said there have been contacts with other school districts for similar groups.
"We're already working with Mahanoy Area and Tri-Valley trying to get programs that we started in our school district so we can have competitions between the school districts, not just North Schuylkill itself," Michael Zangari said.
Frank Zangari was thrilled with how everyone was doing.
"I want to put gear on and run this with the kids," Frank Zangari said. "We took some 'firefighter one' skills, some essential skills and molded them together so it's not too hard for the kids. I compliment Mr. McGurl on his efforts. When we talked to the Schuylkill County Fire Chiefs (Association) about setting it up, he took it and ran with it. They have 30-some students in the program. The school board has recognized it as a club. I'm hoping that the firefighting essential can become part of the school curriculum, and we can our moneys to make that happen so that students will be coming out of school firefighter-ready and that could be a plus to the fire service for volunteers in the future."
McGurl said it was great that everything came together for this first competition.
"Hopefully, this is just the beginning," McGurl said. "Maybe next year it will be bigger and with more kids. It turned out good and we might make the goal for the smoke alarms."
One of the group's projects is to raise funds to purchase smoke alarms to provide them to families who can't afford them.
"The fire departments really stepped up with all the guys out here and the equipment that we needed," McGurl said. "One of our goals is to try to bolster the volunteers in our fire companies. And all the towns are into that because they know there's a serious need for volunteers right now."