Junior firefighters help with safety manual

A national firefighting organization will be on Long Island this weekend to interview and film junior firefighters for a comprehensive training and safety manual for young volunteers.

The National Volunteer Fire Council will head Friday to the East Norwich firehouse, where junior firefighters 18 and under will set up stations mimicking real-life situations -- such as how to put on air packs and use bailout ropes and thermal-imaging cameras, said Jerry Presta, who heads the East Norwich junior firefighter program.

Saturday, the council will be at Westhampton Beach Fire Department, where 30 junior firefighters will simulate a basement rescue. In 2010, Westhampton Beach's juniors won the council's national Junior Firefighter Program of the Year Award.

Rachel Buczynski, the council's national junior firefighter program manager, said the training manual with accessory video will create a standard for all junior firefighter programs.

Among the lessons, Westhampton Beach Chief John "Chip" Bancroft said, is that departments with tight budgets and little space can still have active junior programs.

His department plans to pull a truck out and use the bays as a training area. "It can be done anywhere," Bancroft said. "For some departments that don't have the funding or space, you can still accomplish this."

The Virginia-based fire council has been filming in other parts of the country, including Maryland, Buczynski said.

Junior firefighting programs are important recruiting tools for volunteer fire departments, officials say. In addition to fundraising for charities and social events, the members learn the basics of firefighting and emergency medical training, although they cannot be involved in real rescues or fire situations. Departments hope juniors will go on to become full members as adults.

"The kids are the future of this," said Presta, who also chairs the Nassau County Junior Firefighter Association.