SUAMICO (NBC 26) — The Suamico fire department has four new on-call firefighters thanks to a high school training program. Meet two teens who are one step closer to making their dream come true.
- Get a look inside a fire engine at the Suamico Fire Department
- Meet a firefighter working towards her degree
- One high school student shares why he dreams of becoming a firefighter like his family members
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
Some people say it's never too late, or too early, to follow your dreams. I'm your Suamico neighborhood reporter Pari Apostolakos here at fire station one, where I met two teens who trained to become firefighters while still in high school.
Four new on-call firefighters are at the Suamico department thanks to a partnership with Bay Port High School and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College last school year.
Rylie Dickie is one of them.
"I already had the spark but it just threw a bunch of gasoline on the fire and it just went up in a bang," Dickie said. "I was like oh my gosh, this is so much fun."
Now, she's balancing her job at the fire station with her classes as a freshman at NWTC.
"I was a certified firefighter by 17," Dickie said.
But she wouldn't have it any other way.
"There's never a boring day, there's something new every single day," Dickie said. "Each day you kind of leave with a smile on your face because it's like wow, I've gotten to help so many people today. You feel good about yourself going home."
Connor Ness was in the fire fighting class with Rylie last year. Still a high school student, he's not officially on the department (yet).
"I've been around the department for as long as I know, since birth," Ness said. "These trucks pulling out of the station, there's a different heart feeling every time that happens."
His grandfather and step-father are on the department and Connor knew he always wanted to follow in their footsteps. He just didn't know he would get to start so young.
"It was something I wouldn't think I'd be able to do at 16," Ness said. "People like Rylie and people like me being able to be put in the fire service this early, a lot of experience [we have that we're] going to be able to carry on later in life."
Although the firefighter training program will not be taught at Bay Port in the future, the Howard-Suamico School District says Bay Port students are still participating in the fire fighting course at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.
