You might have seen them out creating fuel breaks or just cleaning up around the firebase. From a little broom and pinecone hockey to much more serious tasks, these kids did their part for the Grand Canyon National Park's Branch of Fire and Aviation during the 2004 fire season.
Facing the difficulties of getting fire crews on for the summer without available park housing made Jim Kitchen, Fire Suppression Manager, decide to tap into the resources of Grand Canyon High School . "Everyone who was interested was accepted into the program," said Kitchen. The students completed the basic training required for all firefighters, concluded with a nice grueling overnight line digging assignment and a surprise breakfast of MREs. "I wanted them to have a realistic experience of what they were committing to," Kitchen relayed with a big grin - "it may be dirty grueling work, but they're hanging in there and learning all aspects of the fire business."
The young crew ranged in age from 16 to 18. Crew members under the age of 18 are not allowed to work on the fireline, but they assisted with other tasks. They began each day by participating in the morning briefing, giving them a taste of being on an incident, before they headed out to their projects.
One of their most important projects during the summer had been to clear a 1.7 mile fuel break in the park. This involves removing fuels surrounding a critical Arizona Public Service power line, additionally, the break opened up a service road for emergencies.
Kelly Kell graduated from Grand Canyon High School as class salutatorian. Kelly said she had a hard time catching up with the rest of the crew physically at first, "because I was more into academia than sports in school." Some of the crewmembers plan to return to the park to become career firefighters or work seasonally to help to pay for college.
A youthful rowdy bunch heads inside to fill out time reports - behind them follows a crew boss and he's shushing them, "it's the office you guys." Well, maybe having fun while you work is a lesson some of us adults can relearn from these kids.
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