Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- The Orem Fire Department partners with Alpine School District for a firefighting program.
- Students gain hands-on experience in firefighting, medical calls and real-life emergencies.
- The program aims to recruit future firefighters amid hiring challenges in Utah.
OREM — Most high school students spend their days in classrooms, reading textbooks and listening to lectures.
However, one class is very different for a select group of students in Utah's Alpine School District. They're learning how to fight fires, handle medical calls, and even respond to real-life emergencies.
It's all part of a unique partnership between the Alpine School District and the Orem Fire Department, allowing high school students to get hands-on experience in firefighting while earning school credit.
For Layla Bonham, a junior at Pleasant Grove High School, the experience has only confirmed what she already knew: This is exactly what she wants to do.
"I love it so much," Bonham said," just everything about it — putting my life out there for other people, comforting them even, it's just so amazing."
Now in its second semester, the program teaches students the fundamentals of firefighting. They learn everything from putting on turnout gear in under 60 seconds to rolling out hoses and responding to actual fire and medical calls.
For students like Ben Anderson, a senior at Skyridge High School, the challenge is what makes it exciting.
"It's really tough, and I love a good challenge," Anderson said. "I'm really going to work for it, and it's really hard, but it's going to be a great reward at the end."
The hands-on training helps students understand what it takes to succeed in this career and gives them valuable real-world experience before they even graduate.
For the Orem Fire Department, the program is about more than just education. It's also about recruiting the next generation of firefighters.
Fire departments across Utah have faced hiring challenges in recent years, especially after a 2011 change to the state's first responder retirement system, which many say has made it harder to attract and retain firefighters.
"The numbers just aren't there the way they used to be, prior to the change in the retirement system," said Orem Fire Department Assistant Chief Shaun Hirst. "It's really thinned out."
That's why programs like this one could be a key solution to the recruitment problem.
"It gives us a chance to get kids in our fire stations, gives them a little snapshot of what it's like to be a firefighter or a paramedic and hopefully plant that seed. We'd love to hire these kids at some point down the road," Hirst said.
Bonham is one of those students who hopes to return as a full-time firefighter someday.
Like Anderson, she plans to attend the Firefighter Recruit Candidate Academy at Utah Valley University after graduating from high school. For now, though, she's just grateful for the chance to start early.
"It's just so amazing," she said. "And I love the adrenaline rush."
