Atlanta high school students learning skills to become firefighters

Atlanta high schoolers training to fight fires

The Atlanta Fire Department is recruiting some fresh faces in a new way by working to train students from Atlanta Public Schools.

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Fire Department is recruiting some fresh faces in a new way. 

A new partnership with The Atlanta Rescue Foundation and Atlanta Technical College has created the Junior Recruit Program. It's bringing in students from Atlanta Public Schools and giving them training to become firefighters.

The backstory:

The future of the Atlanta Fire Department is inside Atlanta Public Schools.

"We’re really targeting Atlanta Public Schools - APS high school juniors and seniors who have an interest in the fire service industry. This is creating a direct career pathway and exposure to that career," Taos Wynn said. Wynn is the president and CEO of the Atlanta Fire Rescue Foundation, a nonprofit meant to help improve the lives of firefighters and first responders.

The foundation partnered with Atlanta Technical College to create this new program for high school students.

(Courtesy of The Atlanta Rescue Foundation)

"We believe the best talent is homegrown right here in our backyard in Atlanta Public Schools. So, to be able to have these students have the opportunity to do testing, to do experiential learning for the fire service, and then have a direct connection and pathway to the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department is everything," Wynn said.

Over 10 Saturday sessions, students get hands-on training to jumpstart their firefighting careers while earning college credit and certifications.

Dig deeper:

The program is also meant to combat a big challenge for the department: recruitment.

"These kids already have a vested interest in the city that they live. And so to once again have the opportunity to be able to learn skill sets and trades that they can apply right there in their community is phenomenal," he said.

The recruits do physical training. They also get to see the equipment and the ladder trucks and go on field trips. But Wynn says the most important part is the interaction with the firefighters they could one day be working beside.

(Courtesy of The Atlanta Rescue Foundation)

"A lot of these individuals that serve have amazing stories of how they have become firefighters themselves, and so that proximity to the firefighters is really impactful for the students and allows them to see the potential that they have within themselves," Wynn said.

And for the students, it's clearing the way for an opportunity they might not have considered before.

What's next:

Currently, there are 25 students from nine different Atlanta Public Schools in the program. Next year, Wynn says they hope they will double those numbers.