2017 Citizens Report

to learn the expectations for the coming year. The students report to Fire Hall No. 1 every Thursday afternoon for four hours where they learn an abbreviated version of the same information and skills that a career or paid-on-call firefighter learns. As part of the program, students are required to conduct a fire and life safety inspection of their high school and an elementary school in the community. The students also teach a fire safety lesson to their peers at their home high school. This is not an easy way to rack up credits towards graduation, so why do the young men and women apply for the

Youth Academy? We asked the 2017- 2018 class members in this photo and they told us that they loved the hands-on application of what they had learned, the teamwork and discipline and that the course opened their eyes as to what’s required in the world of first responders. In this photo you also see career firefighters who were once part of the program. In fact, the very first student Robbie Bruce, who pioneered the Youth Academy program, is a career firefighter. He can be seen on page 15 as the person demonstrating the data systems in the trucks. “At the end of the year, once you’ve

proven your knowledge and skills, you have the chance to go to the Justice Institute’s training centre here in Maple Ridge and learn how to use the ‘jaws of life’ and undertake a live fire training exercise. In the smoke and heat of that moment you either have what it takes or you don’t. That experience galvanized my decision to become a firefighter,” said firefighter Robbie Bruce. “The Youth Academy helped me find my passion and my career. It’s great to have these young men and women around throughout the school year. I’m grateful for the mentoring I received from the firefighters when I was their age and this program is a great way to pay it forward.”

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