Citizen's Fire Academy

Our 2024 Citizen’s Fire Academy has been scheduled!   The dates are:

Wednesday, September 25th

Saturday, September 28th

Sunday, September 29

To register, complete the forms below and send them to CitizensFireAcademy@yaufr.com

2024 Release

2024 Registration

2024 Flyer

2024 Photo Release

Registration Deadline : September 13, 2024

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Each year our department conducts a “Citizen’s Fire Academy”, where

we offer a FREE course on what our job entails.  Think of it as “A day in t

he life of a firefighter”.   The course offers a blend of classroom and hands-on education led by our crews.  A wide variety of topics are covered, but the main event occurs on the final day.  Each attendee has the opportunity to participate in live fire evolutions!  That’s right, we give you the chance to put all of the skills you’ve learned together and participate as part of a crew stretching a hose line from one of our engines into a building to extinguish a real fire.

Here is a list of just some of the topics we cover:

• Department Structure – Everyone knows that the Fire Chief is at the top of the organizational chart.  What about all of the other positions underneath?  What is the role of a Battalion Chief or Captain?

• 911 Call Summary – Do you know what happens behind the scenes when you call 911?  There’s a lot that happens before we show up at the scene of an emergency.  When possible, we even arrange a tour of our local 911 center for all attendees!

• SOP / G.O. – Just like any other business, we have policies and procedures.  We just call them “Standard Operating Procedures” or “General Orders”.    Our crews train on them regularly and know them inside and out.  These policies are in place to keep us running like a well-oiled machine and make for a safer and more efficient emergency incident.  That translates into better public safety!

• Apparatus Overview – There is a difference between a ‘fire engine’, a ‘truck’, and a ‘rescue’.  Each one of these pieces of apparatus has a very specific role, and carries different equipment relating to the tasks they are assigned as part of our policies during an incident.

• Incident Responses – Have you ever wondered why a fire engine may come to a medical incident, or why so many fire trucks appear when you don’t see or smell smoke?   We provide education on the various types of incident dispatches we have (i.e. Automatic Fire Alarm, Medical Assist, Structure Fire, Motor Vehicle Accident), and the response framework associated with each one.

• Gear / Tool Review – Firefighters have a lot of equipment on our apparatus, and a lot of gear on our backs.  It is critical to our jobs that we have a thorough understanding of how every item works, and what tool is best for every job.

• Fire Behavior – No two fires are the same, but if we are able to read what the smoke and fire are telling us we can make educated decisions about what our tactics should be and what the fire may do next.  We show a live fire demonstration showing the stages of fire, as well as smoke behavior to provide some visual cues of what we look for during an incident.

• Fire Extinguisher Use – Each attendee is shown how to properly and safely utilize a fire extinguisher, along with the various types of fire associated with each type of fire extinguisher you may encounter.

• Engine Company Basics – At its most basic level, an engine company provides hose and water.  However, there are a lot of steps that go into getting the hose/water from the engine to the seat of the fire.  We spend time covering many of those tasks, as well as the though process of the firefighters on an engine company.

• Truck Company Basics – A truck company has a large array of responsibilities on the fire ground, aside from just ladders.  They may be tasked with ventilation, search and rescue, utility control, lighting, or “opening up” (among many other things).  Our crews provide attendees with insight into where the truck should be, how to get it there, how to operate the aerial ladder, and what kinds of things the truck company members are thinking about during an emergency incident.

If this is something that might interest you, please contact us at CitizensFireAcademy@Yaufr.com, or complete the form below.