Monroe County students learn firefighting, EMS skills

They look like firefighters, complete with air tanks and helmets, and act like firefighters and paramedics, but they are still Monroe County high school students.

The students participated in the Dundee Township Volunteer Fire Department's Fire and EMS Academy classes. Offered at Dundee High School, the junior and senior students learn various aspects of firefighting, such as climbing through a tunnel, pulling victims to safety or pounding a tire with a sledgehammer to simulate breaking through a roof of a burning home. Firefighter tanks are called Self Contained Breathing Apparatus, but for training purposes, they won't explode when exposed to heat because they are filled with compressed air instead of oxygen.

Twelve students from Dundee, Mason and Ida high schools participated in the class and eight students were in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) classes (three students are doing both). They meet every day until the end of the school year.

Dundee Chief 3 Rob Justice is the lead instructor and coordinator. He will test the student firefighters who can earn certificates. The EMS students who pass must be 18 years old to take the state licensing test.