Citizens Fire Academy aims to spark awareness

Capt. Ryan McCormick, left, and firefighter Randy Harmon, both of the Bryant Fire Department, stand behind equipment that will be demonstrated for the Fire Department’s Citizens Fire Academy, which will start Aug. 4 and run through Sept. 26. McCormick, who is the training captain for the department, will lead the class, which will give participants an opportunity to learn about what the Bryant Fire Department does on a daily basis and practice using the equipment in a controlled environment.
Capt. Ryan McCormick, left, and firefighter Randy Harmon, both of the Bryant Fire Department, stand behind equipment that will be demonstrated for the Fire Department’s Citizens Fire Academy, which will start Aug. 4 and run through Sept. 26. McCormick, who is the training captain for the department, will lead the class, which will give participants an opportunity to learn about what the Bryant Fire Department does on a daily basis and practice using the equipment in a controlled environment.

BRYANT — The residents of Bryant are getting fired up for a new program that will give them an opportunity to get up close and personal with the work of firefighters, thanks to a new program the Bryant Fire Department will launch in August.

The first ever Citizens Fire Academy will kick off Aug. 4 at the Bryant Fire Department headquarters on Roya Lane. The 10-week program will be organized and taught by professional career firefighters from the city. Bryant Fire Chief J.P. Jordan said the classes are meant to give the community a better awareness of what firefighters do.

“It’s a way for us to engage the people we serve,” Jordan said. “We want them to better know us, see what we do every day and have a better understanding of our jobs and what it takes to do our jobs, and also for them to know what type of firefighters we have. I’m really, really proud of the caliber of people we have.

“If you have people from the public here for three hours for 10 weeks, they’re really going to get a knowledge of the Fire Department that most people don’t, and for the people who work there. That’s what I’m after, is for them to get to know the firefighters and see what good people they are.”

Classes will meet from 6:30-9:30 p.m. Thursdays from Aug. 4 through Sept. 29. Over the course of two months, participants will be introduced to a variety of topics pertaining to fire safety and the Fire Department’s work, including the history of fire service, emergency apparatus and equipment; search and rescue; fire prevention and investigation; and vehicle extrication using the Jaws of Life. While there is a lot of ground to cover, Jordan said, participants should not expect to sit in a classroom the entire time.

“I think they can expect a lot of hands-on because that’s really where they get their work from,” he said. “We could sit there and explain it and lecture to them what we do, but that’s something they can read on the internet. But until you get out there and get that tactile simulation of touching things, picking up the tools and operating the tools and seeing how heavy they are, seeing what they’re capable of doing — that’s where the education comes in. So it’ll be a lot of hands-on.”

The Citizens Fire Academy is open to all residents of Bryant, ages 18 and older. Because of limited seating, the class is limited to 16 participants, four from each of the city’s four wards. The deadline for submitting an application, available at the headquarters on Roya Lane, is Wednesday, but Jordan said the department will continue to take applications until the class is full.

The Citizens Fire Academy will wrap up with a graduation ceremony that will include a catered meal for class participants. Overall, Jordan hopes to see Bryant well represented in the diversity of its participants.

“We want to look at it and see that breakdown as far as demographicwise, age,” Jordan said. “We don’t want something that is all female or all male. We don’t want all young people. We want to try to spread it out where we get some of all of Bryant.”

Jordan said he expects good things from the program, and the Citizens Fire Academy has been something he had hoped to establish since joining the Bryant Fire Department. Now in his fourth year, he is excited to see that goal come to fruition. He said the program will be beneficial not just for the community, but for the Fire Department as well.

“We’re really excited,” Jordan said. “A big bonus is we get to get feedback from [the community] at a really close level. They can tell us what they think about the services we provide, tell us what’s good and what’s bad, and maybe we can improve what we do. That’s the main goal — to come away from it knowing what we can do better and get feedback from the public.”

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