Firefighter class now for adults only

TYRELL ALBIN
Staff Writer—Lawton Constitution

The firefighter training program at the Great Plains Technology Center will be going adults-only in August.

The program, which started in 2000 primarily for high school juniors and seniors who wanted to become firefighters, will be open only to those 18 and older, with a high school diploma or GED, beginning with the fall 2012 semester, said Nancy Howell, GPTC emergency medical technician/fire training instructor.

The program currently is 10 months long and students meet for half a day. The students are trained up to the level of proficiency required for the Firefighter Level I certification test and the basic EMT test.

The revamped program will be an all-day program lasting only one semester.

Students will be trained to the level of proficiency required to take the Firefighter Level II certification test, which is the minimum level of certification required for employment by the Lawton Fire Department. The decision to change the program was made by the school’s advisory committee, which is made up of professional firefighters and EMTs, Howell said. The reasons for the changes are increasingly tough requirements for certification and tighter competition for firefighter jobs. Both the Firefighter Level I and Basic EMT certifications now require students to have more hours of training than was previously required, Howell said. When the current program for high school students was started, it was only the third such program in the nat6ion. The other two programs for high school students were located in Los Angeles and Cincinnati.



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