A new program in South Carolina is helping to train—and grow—the next generation of firefighters in the state as communities continue to face a shortage of volunteers. And a fire department recently made a donation to help those efforts.
The Anderson Institute of Technology is an educational facility that serves students in Anderson-area high school districts by offering "19 career-oriented, innovative programs," WSPA-TV reports. Available this year for the first time, students now can learn firefighting skills at the institute.
“I’d have to go to the training center in Anderson and take another course during the summer on my own time, whereas now I can get it fixed into my schedule at school,” Devan Charping, a Pendelton High School student whose dad was firefighter for nearly 25 years, told WSPA about AIT's firefighting program.
The institute has 21 students enrolled in its program this semester, and earlier this week, it received a donation of a fully working 1996 Pierce fire apparatus from the Grove Volunteer Fire Department. That donation, according to one instructor, sends a strong message to students about the institute's program and the importance fire departments see in it.
"It shows they are vested in what we are doing and seeing those students come out of here and go to their stations or other stations in the community,” AIT instructor Michael Benoir told WSPA.
