- Wakulla County offers opportunity for youth pursuing careers in Fire Rescue and EMS
- Wakulla County Fire Cadets is a program for young adults in high school
- Watch the video to learn more about the program
Broadcast Transcript:
“I love to help other people I’ve always been that way.”
Riley Morrison has been a Fire Cadet for about 2 years. She hopes to work for Wakulla County Fire Rescue one day.
Wakulla County Fire Cadets helps prepare high school students interested in pursuing careers as firefighters or EMS professionals.
“They can either be interested in it as a career or not but it’s about community so we want to teach them skills that they’ll be able to use for themselves for their family members for the community.”
Allison Roberts is the Wakulla County Fire Cadet program coordinator who says she’s watched her Cadets grow throughout their time in the program.
“We have two of our former cadets that have gone in and now I see them in the service and they’ve come back and now they’re training the cadets and now we have some of their younger brothers who are now going through the program because they see what their brothers have received from the program. So I really enjoy watching the individual kids grow but also the families that come through.”
Programs like this come at a time when there's been a growing push to recruit and retain firefighters.
The National Fire Protection Association says the total number of volunteer firefighters in the U.S. dropped 17% over five years from about 815,000 in 2015 to 677,000 in 2020, which is said to be the last date it was recorded.
Programs like Wakulla County Fire Cadets could help produce more firefighters in the future.
And Roberts tells me there’s job opportunities for them
“Wakulla County is hiring and there are departments across the state that are hiring.”
Until then the program will continue to help prepare Fire Cadets like Morrison reach their goals!
“It’s truly helped me find what my passion is.”
If you’re interested in becoming a Fire Cadet here's how you can contact them: Email cadets@mywakulla.com or call 850-745-8698.
