Watsonville Fire Holds First Academy For Local Youth

From Watsonville Fire — On Monday, July 22, five young women and nine young men, ages 14-18 arrived at the Watsonville Fire Training Center ready for their first day in the Watsonville Youth Academy. They were a little nervous now knowing what the next two weeks would hold. The Youth Academy will run from July 22 to Aug. 2 from 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

The trainees, as the participants are called, will learn basic firefighting skills from firefighters who volunteered to be mentors and instructors for this new program. They will also learn leadership skills, team building, and strengthen their self-esteem. This program is one that Fire Chief Rudy Lopez wanted to provide for our local youth. He wanted to give youth an opportunity to see that they can overcome adversity, to put them into contact with people who could be mentors for them and most important of all, to give them hope.

“If it wasn’t for someone who mentored me and gave me hope, I wouldn’t be where I am today," Lopez said.

The goal of the Watsonville Fire Department is to reach out to the youth in the community, especially those that are at risk, by providing them a safe environment through this program that will build their confidence, promote character building, personal growth, responsibility and accountability. The trainees are responsible for arriving on time and being ready to start at 8:30 a.m. If anyone comes in late, they have to do push-ups. If they continue to be late, it’s push-ups for everyone. This teaches them to think of others.

They need to work as a team and support each other. Through the physical activities that they must do, they are told to be supportive of each other and to motivate each other. They are learning about the history of Watsonville Fire, the tools used and how to operate some of them. On Wednesday they had an opportunity to use the different fire hose that firefighters use.

They were fully charged with water so they could feel the reaction force of the water pushing back on them. On Friday they will learn vehicle extrication-how firefighters rescue someone who is trapped in a vehicle. Week two they will be learning CPR, ladder basics, knots and forcible entry. They will finish off their week with a graduation ceremony.

The Watsonville Youth Academy is being funded through Measure G.

“If it wasn’t for our community who approved Measure G, we wouldn’t be able to provide this program. I am grateful to our community and proud of our firefighters who are committed to being there for the youth," Lopez said.

In addition to Measure G, Lopez also expressed appreciation and gratitude to Paul from Chaz Design who, once he heard about this program, was quick to donate the screen-printed t-shirts for the Youth Academy.

Because the Youth Academy was new to the fire department it was limited to 15 trainees. For the future, Lopez plans to continue this program next year and is also hoping to hold two academies instead of one due to the high level of interest that was shown for the current academy.

Images Courtesy of Watsonville Fire