Two dozen high school students worked alongside Hartford's firefighters Wednesday, learning critical jobs skills and earning a paycheck while doing it.
"It shows me - this is what firefighters do," said Noelani Sanchez, a rising junior in high school. "If I am getting paid to do this, I want to do it every day of my life.”
The Hartford Fire Department has hosted its Fire Explorers program for decades, but this year the program is expanded and students are getting paid. Its thanks to a partnership with statewide nonprofit ReadyCT.
“We are focused on the intersection between K-12 education and workforce development, and we want to make sure that students feel really excited about the careers that await them when they graduate high school," said Shannon Marimon, executive director of ReadyCT.
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The Fire Explorers program is part of a larger First Responders Youth Academy for Hartford teens, helping to support career pathways for students interested in public service.
“Main goal is to make sure that we are creating a pipeline so that our young people can pursue careers in public service, careers as first responders, and hopefully to inspire some of them to go after that," said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.
In addition to hands-on firefighting training, the students receive specialized classroom trainings. They gain critical job skills that will help them enter the workforce sooner.
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“We show them techniques, we instruct them, we make sure everyone is being safe," said Hartford Fire Chief Rodney Barco. “The goal is to get them to become Hartford firefighters.”
Maliah Rivera is a rising sophomore. She already knows she wants to be a firefighter and said she is grateful for the opportunity to be a fire explorer.
“It means a lot because not a lot of people have the opportunity to do this," Rivera said.
