CHANDLER, AZ — The latest Arizona Fire School class just graduated, and firefighters came from all across the state to train in Chandler.
Trainees practice cutting roofs with chainsaws, entering burning buildings, and performing ladder climbs.
These are trainings that rural fire departments often can’t fund on their own, so the firefighters present can take what they learned here back to their communities and save lives.
Adan Prescott is here from the Wickenburg Fire Department, training to get his certification as an incident safety officer.
“You’re watching the conditions of the building. You’re kind of being the eyes of the firefighters for their safety," Prescott said. "The man that makes sure everybody goes home without having an incident.”
Trainees like Prescott are able to attend the four-day school thanks in part to available scholarships from the Arizona Firefighters Foundation.
“This year, we have 256 scholarships we were able to provide to small rural volunteer and career fire departments, to be able to pay for them to come to this school," Ed Temerowski said.
Temersowksi and Prescott say there are challenges to being rural firefighters.
“We have limited staffing, limited manpower. We have to do a lot more on a fire but can’t take breaks," Prescott said.
However, they also say the reward of the job is worth it.
“Being able to give back to the community, it is service above self," Temerowski said.
