Program offers youths chance to learn about firefighting

A joint effort between local fire departments and the Boy Scouts of America is giving many Pee Dee men and boys a head start in firefighting and rescue service careers.

The Howe Springs Fire Volunteer Department is one Florence fire service that has teamed up with the Boy Scouts to offer the Junior Explorers program.

The program is open to males between the ages of 14 and 21 and allows them to get acquainted with firefighting, Howe Springs Assistant Fire Chief William Dillon said.

“They come in and train with us,” Dillon said. “We try to go ahead and teach them everything about the fire service and let them feel what it’s like.”

Explorer program members can take certain S.C. Fire Academy classes, he said. The program also has a ranking system that mirrors those found in actual fire departments. There’s also a “chief” explorer who is responsible for leading and making some decisions for the group.

“They’ll understand the chain of command, and that’s real big in the fire service,” Dillon said.

“If the lieutenant is having problem at their station or on their truck, they don’t come straight to (the assistant chief), they go their captain. If their captain can’t handle it, then they go to their battalion chief,” he said. “We show them the respect they have to have for the officers while they are 14, 15 and 16 years old.”

After being an Explorer, many are ready to join a department — which is what 18-year-old explorers Justin Taylor and Thomas Lee intend on doing.

Taylor and Lee have completed the interior certification through the S.C. Fire Academy and plan to join the Howe Springs Fire Department next year.

Taylor said his brother is a Howe Springs firefighter and he developed an interest in firefighting after seeing him respond to calls.

Taylor asked some South Florence High School students if they were interested in joining the Howe Springs Explorer program. This, in turn, helped the group become established in 2007, he said.

Lee said he decided to pursue a public safety career after he saw a traffic crash.

“I was coming home from school one day, I saw a really bad wreck; the lady died, I think,” he said. “Ever since then, I wanted to help people.”

The Explorers are allowed to respond to house and vehicle fires where they deploy fire hoses, hook up fire hydrants and refill air cylinders for firefighters, Dillon said.

“We don’t allow our Explorers to run the medical calls. We want to wait until they get a little older to see the violence and the death. We wait until they are 18 before they can go on the medical calls,” he said. ” But we let them get the (fire) experience. If they are on a fire scene with us and one of our firemen get hurt, they are right there to take care of them. Whether it’s bandaging or splitting them or CPR — all of them are trained in CPR and first aid.”

For more information on the Howe Springs Explorers program, call the department at (843) 669-4196.