All of the instructors and staff members at the Arizona Wildfire Academy in Prescott are volunteers, including the Brown family, Harold, Cheryl, and Lindsay, 8. Here is an excerpt from a story in the Daily Courier.
Harold Brown is a 23-year veteran of the Sun City Fire District, working as a paramedic and engineer (fire engine driver). He spent his first three years at the Wildfire Academy as a student, transitioning to the staff last year.
“I’m really glad I came. I felt like I would have missed out, because he comes home talking about it,” Cheryl said.
Harold has served as a base camp manager on wildfires across the country for as long as 21 days at a time, helping set up tent communities for hundreds of firefighters at a time. Now he is training at the Wildfire Academy as a facilities unit leader, another base camp job.
“It’s very rewarding to see all the young students coming in, and there is a lot of camaraderie,” Harold said.
Cheryl is working at the academy check-in desk, helping students find their class locations and selling academy banquet tickets.
“I like helping people,” Cheryl said. “You give in life, it all comes back. And I’m learning, too.”
Lindsay is helping her mom and dad, as well as running around delivering items to various parts of the campus. She’s had the opportunity to ride in her dad’s fire truck before and sometimes eat meals with him at the fire station, but this is the first time she’s worked with him.
While Lindsay was talking about her work Tuesday, she got an assignment to deliver an academy T-shirt to one of the instructors and quickly ran up the hill to another building on the sprawling Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University campus.
“She’s incredible,” Howard said. “Eight years old and she came in here and did not miss a beat.”
One of Lindsay’s favorite jobs has been reading quiz questions to students in the Interagency Incident Business Management class.
“They’ve worked really hard in that class,” she said.
Lindsay has been collecting firefighter pins and attaching them to the lanyard that holds her name card around her neck. Her pins feature everything from Smokey Bear to the Montecito (California) Fire Department logo. She also has a new T-shirt that reads, “Firefighter’s daughter – keep back 50 feet.”
She is proud to point out that she is the youngest employee at the Wildfire Academy, and even more proud of the Certificate of Appreciation she received Tuesday.
“It’s really hard to get one of these,” she beamed. “You’ve got to work really hard.”
With that, she ran off to deliver something else.
“She just runs and runs and runs,” observed Todd Rhines, a longtime Prescott-area firefighter who is the Wildfire Academy’s safety officer. “My granddaughters would be crashing by now.”
Attending the academy this year are 619 students from 20 states and Canada.