For the Reporter
A contingency of the Zone 3 Fire Explorers and advisors head to the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., in the next few days to compete in the National Fire/Emergency Services Exploring Conference.
The Zone 3 Fire Explorer program – part of Learning for Life (exploring.learningforlife.org) and the Washington Association of Future Firefighters – is made up of posts from SeaTac, Tukwila, Renton, and Maple Valley. It introduces young men and women to public safety careers, including being a firefighter, dispatcher and paramedic. Explorer programs are open to youth 14-21 years of age.
Local Explorers support the fire departments and communities of South King County. They provide rehabilitation at emergency scenes with water and food as well as checking firefighters’ blood pressures and heart rates. These activities ensure that firefighters are physically ready to continue emergency operations.
The Explorers also participate in community activities such as Renton River Days, National Night Out, and the International Festival at Angle Lake.
The conference runs from July 14-19, and includes team and individual competitions in:
• CPR and automatic external defibrillator
• Spinal immobilization
• Hazardous materials recognition and identification
• Search and rescue
• Firefighter combat challenge
• Incident management
• Knot tying
• Other firefighting related activities
Originally the conference was designed for law enforcement Explorers, but expanded to include Fire Explorers in 2012.
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