Press Release  Vocational High School Students Visit Fire Academy

SPRINGFIELD — Students from the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School (SVAHS) in Northampton recently spent a day learning about the fire service at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy.

The group of 10 juniors arrived at the Department of Fire Services’ Springfield campus at 8:15 a.m. on March 21 and started the day with a short tour of the facility, which houses DFS administrative offices as well as MFA classrooms, props, and apparatus.  Assistant Coordinators Rich Craven and Mike Gelinas of the Academy led a discussion on the mission, values, and duties of the fire service, then brought the students into the apparatus bay to don the full sets of turnout gear, from helmets to boots, that they wore during all exercises.

The students progressed across the campus in two groups to observe and practice basic firefighter tactics. They conducted forcible entry training at the Multi-Force door prop using Halligan bars, both on their own and with partners who used either a second Halligan or an eight-pound axe. They learned about interior search tactics in the two-story Search and Rescue prop, conducting two-person right-hand searches in the darkened building, then reversing direction and using their left hands to find their way out.  While at the Search and Rescue prop, they also joined municipal firefighters observing a tabletop backdraft demonstration led by Assistant Coordinator Bill Schuetze using a fire dynamics training prop.

Back on the drill yard, the students learned about the different types of ladders that firefighters use. They practiced carrying and throwing 16-foot ground ladders, and they tried their hands at raising an extension ladder using a stationary prop.  Afterward, the group doffed their personal protective equipment and had a lunchtime discussion of careers in public safety with Deputy State Fire Marshal Maribel Fournier, who has also served the Commonwealth with the Massachusetts State Police and Department of Correction, before watching local firefighters performing live fire exercises.

The SVAHS visit was coordinated by Dr. Sara Pragluski Walsh, the Academy’s instructional design and curriculum development specialist. It was the second visit of its kind at DFS, following a June 2022 visit by Shrewsbury High School students to the Department’s Stow headquarters. Additional visits to Springfield and Stow are scheduled for later this year.  DFS officials hope to expand the opportunity to young people from across the Commonwealth at all three campuses.

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