GREENFIELD — The teenage girl reached over to her fellow cadet firefighter and helped him buckle the chin strap on his helmet. Emma Roberts was getting her group ready to head into a smoke-filled, darkened metal structure to try and rescue victims trapped inside.
The scenario was an exercise, one of several challenges for members of the Greenfield Fire Territory Cadet Program who were taking part in the eighth annual Hoosier Emergency Responder Olympics, or HERO, competition.
The event, held last Saturday, is a gathering for Cadet/Explorer programs from across the state and also from Kentucky to give teens a chance to test the firefighting skills they are learning in their education programs.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryEmma, 16, Greenfield, is a Greenfield-Central High School junior who was competing in the event for the second time. She said there’s nothing like testing skills against other young teens who want to one day be career firefighters.
“You want to see how good your skills actually are against other teams and even within your own group,” Emma said.
Roberts is the daughter of Greenfield Fire Territory Chief Jimmy Roberts and was just one of dozens of teenage cadets taking part in the daylong competition at the fire territory’s training grounds. Like her father, Emma Roberts wants to dedicate her life to making a difference in her community.
The chief, who was on hand to oversee the competition, said it’s great to watch young people learn life-saving skills and work hard to understand the science of firefighting.
“The vast majority of these kids will be firefighters one day,” the chief said. “It’s wonderful because we’re working on developing our next generation of firefighters.”
The cadets train all year, just like real firefighters do, with the exception of tackling real fires and working with motorized tools, such as saws to cut through metal.
The drills during the HERO competition were designed to push the teens to the limit doing such challenges as CPR, search and rescue, hazmat identification, ladder and rope drills, hose deployment and other medical tasks.
Organizers know how important it is for young people to understand what they’re getting into should they make the commitment to a career as a firefighter, so they made the competitions as real as possible.
“We throw them right in there and have them do the job of a real firefighter,” said Tony Bratcher, public information officer for the Sugar Creek Township Fire Department.
The idea behind the drills is to challenge the cadets physically and mentally. Events like the HERO competition get would-be firefighters into the right mentality early and help the teens develop a strong base for being a community contributor.
“As they go through high school and on to college they start to think like a public servant,” Bratcher said.
Bratcher, 34, has been involved in firefighting for half his life. He got into a cadet program when he was a 17-year-old junior in high school. One of the biggest things he enjoys about the cadet programs is how the career firefighters take the time to invest and train the teens.
Firefighters from Greenfield and Sugar Creek volunteered at the HERO competition.
The Greenfield Fire Territory’s cadet program is the only one in Hancock County, but it is open to high school students countywide. This year’s cadet group had enough members to send two teams to the HERO competition.
Logan Williams, 16, Greenfield, is just a sophomore at Greenfield-Central High School, but he already knows one day he will be a career firefighter. He has thought about it since middle school, he said.
Logan became a part of the cadet program when he was a freshman. He said training and competing are two different things, making the competition an important event each year.
“The search and rescue was pretty intense,” Logan said. “You could hear people screaming and yelling, and it gets chaotic because you can’t see.”
As his portable air tank run low, Logan’s team was able to find two victims during their search and rescue challenge.
“We got the job done,” he said with a smile.
Logan plans to go to college and study fire science, join a department as a volunteer and then try to catch on full time as soon as he turns 21.
It’s awesome, he said, already knowing what he wants to do in life. Taking part in the HERO competition, he said, gives him a leg up on being prepared.
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HOOSIER EMERGENCY RESPONDER OLYMPIC WINNERS:
Search and Rescue
1. Greenfield, Blue Team
2. Greenfield, Gold Team
3. Wayne Township
Relay Challenge
1. Lafayette
2. Fort Wayne
3. Greenfield, Blue Team
Hazardous Materials
1. Fort Wayne
2. Fairdale, Kentucky
3. Lafayette
Ladders
1. Lafayette
2. Fort Wayne
3. Greenfield, Blue Team
Water
1. Fort Wayne
2. Wayne Township
3. Lafayette
Emergency Medical Services
1. Lafayette
2. Fort Wayne
3. Greenfield, Blue Team
Fire Gear Drill
1. Fort Wayne
2. Wayne Township
3. Greenfield, Blue Team
Top Teams over-all
1. Wayne Township
2. Fort Wayne
3. Greenfield, Blue Team
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