Graduating from the Citizen’s Fire Academy

For the past 8 weeks, my Thursday nights have been booked!  The Marion Citizen's Fire Academy featured 8 weeks of training and activities that helped us better understand what firefighters go through everyday.  Now that it's over, I already miss it.

The highlights for me, are many.  It started night one getting our bunker gear and helmets.  MY helmet.  It had my name on it!  This wasn't "play" gear.  This was real equipment that firefighters wear on a daily basis.  We learned how to use an SCBA, which was something I had dreaded.  I don't do well with masks on, but by the end of my time I had become used to wearing it.  We broke down doors, tore through walls and got soaked by sprinklers.

But the highlight was the Burn Trailer.  We entered a burning structure, and put out fires.  How much more "real" can you get?  The Marion Citizen's Fire Academy was everything I had hoped for and more.  I learned, made new friends and would reccomend it to any Marion citizen who is curious about what it takes to be a firefighter.

A big THANK YOU to the Marion Fire Department for putting on such a great course, and to all the instructors who took time out of their busy schedules to teach us and keep us safe.  We can't thank you enough!