County News
At eight on a Tuesday morning, a group of high school students are preparing to rappel down a structure. As the first few rappellers step into their harnesses, Assistant Chief of Training Jamie Phillips explains the harnesses’ safety features and how to smoothly rappel down the wall.
These high school students are a part of a new program offered by The Oxford-Lafayette School of Applied Technology, in partnership with The Lafayette County Fire Department. Every school day, they meet with Chief Phillips for a hands-on comprehensive learning experience in all aspects of the fire service.
“I want this program to invite people in to learn about what firefighters do. People don’t understand what they do. They think we just save cats out of trees,” Chief Phillips says with a laugh.
To bridge this gap, Chief Phillips embarked on a recruitment campaign, starting with presentations at Lafayette High School. The enthusiastic response led to the development of this unique program.
High school student Brian Houston was inspired to join the class after one such presentation. “I really never thought about being a firefighter until Chief Phillips came to the school and talked about everything he did, and I basically just fell in love with it. It’s been really fun so far.”
The year-long course goes beyond firefighting basics. While students learn crucial skills like hose line deployment and fire truck operation, they also gain exposure to medical responses—through AED usage, CPR certification and bleeding control techniques—technical rescue and the broader tasks performed by firefighters.
Setting Students Up for Success
Chief Phillips recognized this program’s opportunity of attracting future firefighters, as well as teaching high school students critical skills.
“I want to educate kids that this is a great career choice, if you’re interested. We’re a tradesmen field,” he says. “You can join when you’re 18. Once you finish high school, you can come get a job at a fire department, start your career in the system and retire at 48.”
This junior firefighter program is designed to meet the certification requirement for firefighters, preparing the class for any state’s certification process following their high school graduation.
Everything that firefighters do, except for diving, they will do. They will even be allowed at real fire scenes, though they’ll be supervised and kept in safer areas. By participating in these real-world scenarios, students will gain both critical experience and understanding for the work firefighters do.
A Year of Learning & Community
Back at the morning rappel training, the class is cheering each other on. Despite only spending a few days with each other, they have already become friends.
“With the kids in this program, I see the same kind of people that show up in the fire service: a wide range of personalities and people that usually would not hang out outside of the fire service, but the work creates a sense of camaraderie,” says Chief Phillips.
Parents have expressed their support for the program and its hands-on teaching. “It’s amazing what they’ve done with the program, and this is just a good experience,” says one mom, as she watches her kid rappel. “My son has been in ROTC all four years, so this is the kind of thing that interests him. He just wants to help people.”
Another student in the program, Jaden Richard, joined the class because he thought it would be fun. “And it has been really fun,” he adds. Even though he doesn’t think he wants to be a firefighter, he’s excited for the experiences he’ll gain this year.
The Training Program’s Future
In the future, the Lafayette County Fire Department may expand their junior training programming, but for now, they’re focused on this pilot year.
Chief Phillips will mark the success of the program by whether any students show interest in becoming firefighters by the end. “If one or two seniors tell me they want to take on the next step to become a firefighter, I’ll think I did my job,” he says.
One immediate need, however, is financial support, primarily to fund each students’ firefighting gear, which costs $5,000. Whereas full-time firefighters’ gear is black and yellow, the students’ gear will be black and orange with their role as students in the firefighter program labeled on them.
“If they show up on a fire scene, this way we’ll know who they are,” says Chief Phillips, “and they don’t get into the hot zone until we deem it okay.”
Once purchased, this gear will be able to be used for future students in training programs to come.
To make a donation towards the cause, please call the station at (662) 232-2880 and ask to speak with Assistant Chief of Training Jamie Phillips or Deputy Chief Justin Sneed. There will also be fundraising opportunities available, including a haunted Halloween trail this fall. Watch the Lafayette County Fire Department’s Facebook to stay up-to-date.