PEORIA, Ariz. — A unique program in a Valley school district is giving students on-the-job training and setting them up for life after graduation. While the Fire Sciences program is typically a male-driven field, a group of ladies is stealing the show.
The high school students are going through the rigorous hands-on training a firefighter would do, to prepare to join a station in town. They’re getting ready physically and mentally while taking some top awards while they’re at it.
Senior Nevaeh Hacker Rodriguez joined Peoria Unified School District’s fire science program by accident.
"When I first started the class, I had no idea what firefighters did," Rodriguez said. "I wasn't actually wanting to be a firefighter. I just kind of took the program to be like 'Oh yeah, it seems fun. I get out early when I can.' And then I fell in love with it."
Now, Rodriguez is hooked. It's a different journey than her teammate Breanna Allgood, as they practice skills courses to improve their strength and times.
“I had knee surgery so I couldn’t play sports anymore, so I needed something physical," Allgood said. "So I started firefighting not knowing what it is or knowing how to do anything.”
Now in her second year, Allgood doesn’t plan to stop either.
“Once my knee is healed up and everything, I’ll be going seasonal for wildland, so during the summer," Allgood said.
Long-time Valley firefighter Danny Comella leads the program’s 60 students. They get CPR certifications, dual fire-science college credits, learn to pull hoses, and do ride-alongs with the Phoenix Fire Department.
“It’s giving them life skills on how to get along with people, how to work under stress, whatever job they get," Comella said. "Just put them under that physical and mental stress that they can take anywhere along with their life.”
Of those 60 students, Comella said only six are female. They make up an all-girls firefighting team that just swept the latest Valley fire science competition, even being down a couple of team members.
“Only having five of us against seven people is difficult," Allgood said. "Two of us had to do two obstacles, so we stuck together and cheered each other on."
It's these successes that make instructor Comella proud, as he watches his current and former students shine in school and years down the road in the field.
“Some of them have 10 years, 12 years on the fire department," Comella said. "It does make me feel old. It does make me proud. I have a bunch of kids out there I run into and I don’t even recognize them anymore. They’re grown men and women.”
The students are in class three days a week for 90-minute class periods. Juniors and seniors in the Peoria Unified School District are eligible for the program. Students don't have to end up becoming firefighters after graduation.
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