The Bargersville Fire Department cadet program is helping create the next generation of firefighters, offering students the chance to learn what being a firefighter is really like.
Many fire departments offer cadet programs. Bargersville’s has been going on for 15 years. The program is for teens 14-18 who have an interest in the fire service, or being an emergency medical technician. The program provides an opportunity to become involved and learn basic skills, said Mike Pruitt, deputy fire chief.
“It gives an opportunity for them to come out and learn what the fire department’s about,” Pruitt said. “It allows us to mold these individuals early on into what they’re getting into. … When they come and actually see it in real life, they may go, ‘This isn’t for me,’ or maybe they decide, ‘Hey, this is this is definitely what I want to do my career.’”
Right now, Bargersville has 10 cadets from Center Grove, Clark-Pleasant, Franklin and Greenwood schools, along with Greenwood Christian Academy, and is slated to take up to two more. The department has the ability to have up to 12, but is hoping to expand that by a little bit, said Aaron Kyle, a firefighter and cadet advisor.
Interest in the program has spiked in the last five years. The spike has come at a time when more schools, such as Central Nine Career Center, started having their own high school-level programs that allow students to get their firefighter and EMT certifications, he said.
The cadets are mentored by experienced firefighters in the department. Searching for mentors can take time, but Bargersville is lucky to have a group of firefighters that have taken this job on to work with the students.
Cadets do not do any actual firefighting, though they do come to the scenes.
“They basically are helpers on the scene and help us carry equipment, but we don’t introduce them to live firefighting at this point with the cadet program,” Pruitt said.
Cadets take part in two-hour trainings every Saturday as part of the program. Training can include ladder operations, vehicle extrication, hose line operations and EMS training, Kyle said.
“Any type of training that we would receive for the fire department or fire-related, including EMS, we put the cadets kind of through a condensed version of that,” he said.
Through the program, firefighters are able to teach cadets about life inside the firehouse. Cadets are able to really see the expectations of what a probationary firefighter is expected to do throughout the day, which sometimes includes things as simple as making sure the coffee is made, Kyle said.
As part of the program, cadets are required to maintain good grades in order to stay active in the program. If their grades drop, they aren’t allowed to come to the fire department, Pruitt said.
The cadet program is a sort of recruiting tool for Bargersville Fire. Some of their firefighters started out as cadets, and took part in the program up to the point where they could apply for a part-time or full-time position, Pruitt said.
“These are kids that we trained, that we know,” he said. “So if they enter our program, especially as part-time because we do employ part-time firefighters, we know what we’re getting.”
Though cadets can work at any full-time agency, hiring their own cadets is a big benefit to Bargersville fire as they’re drawing applicants from the community, Pruitt said.
“They’re more dedicated individuals to the area we serve,” he said.
The program is pretty well received by cadets. Aidan Dobbins, a 16-year-old Franklin Community High School student, joined the cadet program because he was looking to learn the skill set the program teaches and he wanted to have the overall experience. He’s considering possibly joining a fire department once he gets out of high school, he said.
For Dobbins, the desire to take part in the program dates back to his own experience with firefighters. In 2016, his family’s home was damaged by a house fire, he said.
“It was like one of those things that you never want to see people really go through that again,” Dobbins said. “It’s a good thing to be in the program and able to help out other people that might go through that same situation.”
Whiteland Community High School student Anna King, 17, joined the cadet program after taking part in C9’s fire and rescue program last year. She was originally set on being a police officer, but after the recent national spotlight on policing, her dad encouraged her to go into firefighting, she said.
“Being part of the Bargersville cadet program, it’s really enjoyable,” she said.
Scott Raker, an 18-year-old Greenwood Community High School student, thought that going to the firehouse was nerve-wracking at first, but everyone was open and welcoming to the cadets, he said.
“No matter if you’re the youngest or the most experienced person there, you get treated the same,” Raker said.
The point of the program is to see whether the cadets think a career in the fire service is a good fit for them, and even if they don’t think it is, it’s still a benefit, Kyle said.
“In my opinion, and in some of theirs as well, that’s a win because they were able to put some time in, and they didn’t commit to a full-time job or commit to an education that would have cost them X amount of dollars,” Kyle said. “They had that opportunity to come in and see what this was all about before they really dove in headfirst.”
WCHS student Chase Cooper, 16, agreed that it was a good way to find out if kids want to be firefighters. While it may be overwhelming at first, it gets easier as time goes on, he said.
“It is hard work, but it definitely takes a certain type of person,” Cooper said. “If you want to be a fireman, it’s a good place to start.”
King encourages students who may be interested in joining the program to try it out. They could fall in love with it, she said.
“A lot of people, they start out and they go to high school and whatnot, and after a while, they join the fire service,” King said. “They could have fallen in love with it sooner than they did.”
HOW TO APPLY
For students to take part in Bargersville Fire Department’s cadet programs, they are required to pick up and complete an application. The completed application has to be returned completed for the department to review it.
Applications can be picked up in person at Bargersville Fire Department Station 201/Headquarters, 3991 N. State Road 135, Bargersville.
