SPOKANE, Wash. —
Dozens of kids donned Spokane Fire gear, “saved lives” and sprayed “flames” at the department’s fifth annual “Kids Junior Firefighter Academy" on Sunday.
Jamie McIntyre, the Community Risk Reduction Manager for the Spokane Fire Department (SFD), said the junior academy is all about teaching families about fire safety and making it fun.
"We're trying to teach people things that they can do to be safer before an event happens,” McIntyre explained. “So this event includes fun things as well as safety focused stuff."
Kids between two and 12 years old ran around Wall Street in downtown Spokane practicing their firefighting skills and learning more about how Spokane Fire protects our city.
In addition to the event being educational, McIntyre said she hopes it inspires some kids to take an interest in firefighting.
“This is their chance to practice those skills,” McIntyre said.
The department had a chance to connect with the community after a tragic and devastating wildfire season in eastern Washington.
"We've had a really long wildfire season, the Spokane community as a whole has,” McIntyre said. “So we appreciate the opportunity to pause with our community to say thanks, we're here with you, we made it all through together, let's learn about what happened in the last year and talk about how we can do better in the 2024 summer."
Spokane Fire also had volunteers in River Park Square teaching kids and their parents CPR, wildfire safety and how to tell the difference between poisonous pills and candy.
"Those little tiny things that people can do in their day to day life to make them safer is something we want to remind them of," McIntyre said.
The kids junior firefighter academy happens once a year, but McIntyre said Spokane Fire is constantly making connections with kids throughout the year.
“We also go to preschool, we have our grade-school fire safety program that has structured curriculum is delivered to first through fourth graders within Spokane, we were just in high schools talking about cooking safety for high schoolers that are at home cooking meals by themselves,” McIntyre said.
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