March 10--FOUNTAIN SPRINGS -- A group of students at North Schuylkill Junior-Senior High School have formed a junior firefighters group to promote fire safety in the communities.
The students hope to encourage young people to get involved in their local volunteer fire companies and become firefighters in the future.
The initiative was the idea of high school science teacher Ryan McGurl. After finding students who liked the idea, McGurl made a request to the district school board to create the group. His request was approved at the board's December meeting.
"We started in order to get smoke alarms for the disadvantaged kids at the school," McGurl said Thursday. "Last year's Mother's Day fire in Pottsville really drove this."
McGurl was referring to the blaze on May 12 that killed two adults and four children. Investigators ruled that the fire was accidental and that there were no working smoke detectors inside the home.
McGurl outlined three main reasons for forming the group:
- Fundraising to provide smoke alarms/batteries for those who cannot afford them.
- Be a recruitment arm for local fire companies.
- Provide an opportunity to foster relationships among different fire companies to promote future cooperation.
"We also want to be a recruitment arm for our local fire companies because our companies are aging and not getting new recruits," McGurl said. "And we want to foster relationships between companies. Many of these kids are from different companies, so when they get older, that will help with cooperation."
McGurl said there are 30 members, boys and girls, in grades 7 through 12. Half of the members are members of volunteer fire companies and ambulance associations.
The group wrote to local fire companies to determine their support of the initiative. McGurl said fire companies have responded in favor of the efforts so far.
"We've had great support from our local companies. They have pledged their time and equipment for future seminars," McGurl said.
The support includes training at fire companies on different equipment, along with training with a career paid firefighter thanks to the Altamont Fire Company. Training offers have come from fire companies in Altamont, Lavelle and Ringtown.
McGurl added that a competition will be held in late April among the members, with the winner named the Spartan Firefighter of the Year.
"The event will be designed so as to challenge all aspects -- mental and physical -- of a qualified firefighter," McGurl said, explaining that one possible activity could be running a course with an air pack to determine the person's physical shape.
While this year's competition would be just for the North Schuylkill group, McGurl hopes other districts would consider a similar group, which could lead to inter-school competitions.
"I would love to see Shenandoah Valley have a junior firefighters group that we can have a competition against next year," McGurl said. "We're challenging any other school district in the county to step up and form a fire and rescue team, fundraise to provide free safety equipment for their school and come take on the Spartans next spring."
One of the original members is senior Michael Zangari, Girardville, active with the Rangers Hose Company and son of Girardville fire Chief Frank Zangari.
"There are three main things we are hitting. First of all, we're tying all of the fire companies together with the school district so that they're working hand-in-hand with us as a school district, as members of communities and junior firefighters," Zangari said. "Two, it's giving us exposure here at school. The juniors do a lot of things with fire drills already, but sitting next to me here during the meeting were five or six kids who sat right next to me who are not firefighters. They're here because they want to help. And third, it's giving North Schuylkill's junior firefighters who are involved behind the scenes pride in knowing they're doing something different. We're changing the lives of people who need these smoke alarms."
Briana Shields, junior, and Ashley David, sophomore, both of Girardville, are members.
"I'm excited about this," Shields said. "We both help another teacher with fire prevention. We teach fire safety."
"And what firefighting is all about," David said.
"There are nine active female firefighters in the borough of Girardville," Zangari said.
"My step-dad is a captain," David said.
"And my dad just recently joined," Shields said.
High school Principal Christian Temchatin applauds the enthusiasm of the students and McGurl.
"Through conversations with me, he talked about getting a group together and the kids were really excited about it," Temchatin said. "It's recognizing their niche in the school community. We have students who are part of fire companies within different communities in the district, and this is allowing them to come together and have their own voice."
Temchatin said this is not the first time students have been involved with fire safety.
"We have a strong culture of junior firefighters at North Schuylkill," Temchatin said. "A few years back, we got the juniors involved in our fire drill procedures, so they have some skill sets already in terms of the organization that would be required on scene. Ryan McGurl has a passion for knowing that we have a lot of people in the community who either can't afford smoke alarms or carbon monoxide detectors, or don't know enough about fire safety prevention. They want to come up with a mechanism to provide those types of services."
Copyright 2014 - Republican & Herald, Pottsville, Pa.
