State superintendent: Lee County High firefighter certification program a model for Georgia

LEESBURG — Georgia State School Superintendent Richard Woods said Thursday that a new partnership training Lee County High School seniors to become certified firefighters could serve as a blueprint for school districts across the state.

Woods visited the high school for a student showcase of the program, a Career, Technical and Agricultural Education pathway taught on campus by Lee County Fire and Emergency Services. Seven seniors are enrolled in its first year. When they finish high school, they can test to become state-certified firefighters.

Woods said the state’s CTAE priorities center on growing opportunities in fields where workers are needed most.

“Really, we’re looking at how do we expand opportunities for kids in high-demand areas,” Woods said. “For a lot of communities, we have a shortage of firefighters.”

He said Lee County “is kind of laying the groundwork” for expanding that type of program, and the state wants to help other districts copy it.

“How do we replicate this?” Woods said. “This is one of the ways in which we at the state department can come in, look at what’s going on in an existing school system, and share with others and say this is the point of contact.”

Woods said the partnership also solves a cost problem that could keep a small program from ever getting started.

“We have like seven kids right now in this program. Well, that would be hard to fund at the local level,” Woods said. “With the local fire department providing the instructor, I mean, that takes the biggest burden and probably the biggest cost off the table there.

“Without that partnership, this would not be happening.”

Woods said the program gives students a direct route into the workforce after graduation.

“If they want a job, they want a career, it’s here,” he said. “Hats off to Lee County for investing in these students and giving them a pathway to success.”

Lee County Fire and Emergency Services Chief David Forrester said the idea grew out of conversations about recruitment.

“We were talking about being short with firefighters, and it’s not a local issue,” Forrester said. “It’s a state issue. It’s a nationwide issue.”

Forrester, who has been with the department 19 years and had previously been involved with a junior firefighter program for high school students, said talks with the school system came together during the last school year to launch the class this year.

The department has 107 firefighters, Forrester said. It is short some positions, also relies on part-time employees and has only one volunteer.

Forrester said the program is aimed in part at students who don’t plan to attend college or technical school.

“It’s another option they have as far as coming out of high school and ready to enter the workforce,” he said.

The department plans to add an EMT program alongside the fire curriculum next year, Forrester said.

Capt. Tony Newsome teaches the class Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays during the last two periods of the school day. He has trained adult firefighters and said the high school setting isn’t much different.

During Thursday’s showcase, Newsome used a small-scale model of a four-room house with an attic to show students how fire spreads, how smoke travels and how opening a door can feed a fire oxygen. He pointed out the thick black smoke produced by burning synthetic materials such as plastic and quizzed students on the stages of fire.

The lesson carried a message for every household.

“If your house ever catches on fire and you’re trying to get out, close doors behind you, because a lot of times you may put the fire out just by closing doors,” Newsome said.

He pointed to a room in the model that stayed sealed off from the fire, like a bedroom with its door closed at night, to show why closing bedroom doors makes a house safer.

Newsome also walked students through how crews decide whether to go inside a burning house. Time of day matters, he said: On a weekday morning, pets may be the only ones home.

“Three o’clock in the morning, who’s going to be there?” Newsome said. “Everybody’s going to be home.”

Kelli Duke, LCSS Senior Director of Secondary Leadership and Learning for grades 6-11,, said the program depends on the fire department.

“We couldn’t do it without their willingness to supply the instructor for us,” Duke said.

The school provides classroom space and is paying for students’ protective gear, school officials said. The course builds on the high school’s existing public safety pathway and has room for up to 15 students.

Duke said she knows of a few similar programs in Georgia, but “I don’t know that they provide full-fledged certification at the end of their program, like we will.” She said she is not aware of any in south Georgia.

Duke said Woods raised the possibility of partnering with a neighboring school district that could send students to Lee County to help fill open seats.

“This is our first year, so we certainly want it to grow,” Duke said.

Forrester said he expects other school systems to follow once they see the program at work.

“We feel like it certainly will grow as time goes on,” he said, adding that his department likes to “do things first and lead the way.”