A day in the life...First Due Firefighter Camp – Day 3

Rhonda Griffin

While some teenagers are enjoying their break from school by sleeping in or soaking up rays at the beach, 17 of Bladen County's junior firefighters are spending part of their summer vacation at camp. But this is not just any camp – it's First Due Firefighter Camp – and most of the participants have agreed so far that it's not quite what they were expecting.

The cadets are taking part in a grueling two-week session that teaches them not only firefighting and lifesaving skills, but also the values of teamwork and watching out for each other, all wrapped up in an almost boot camp-style program that is filled with good-humored fun. Each day begins with stretching exercises and a 1.5 mile lap around Elizabethtown with a combination of marching, walking and running, followed by the lessons for the day.

Today's lessons – Turnout gear training and Day 3 of CPR training.

Hosted by the Elizabethtown Fire Department, First Due Firefighter Camp is the first of its kind in Bladen County. And, without a doubt, these cadets are working hard to prove themselves to the instructors, but the intense work isn't doing a thing to sway their determination.

“I didn't hear a lot about what we would be doing until I got here the first day,” Tar Heel Station 57 Junior Firefighter John Hunsinger said Wednesday. “It's not bad to me, but it's different than I expected.”

His brother, Tar Heel Junior Firefighter Chris Hunsinger, said, “I like it! It can be hard sometimes, but I know it will pay off in the end.”

Elizabethtown Station 55 Junior Firefighter ShaLia Freeman said, “I love it... It's pain, but I love it!” Freeman went on to say that she wants to make a career of firefighting and chose to attend the camp because, “I knew it would make me better as a person.”

So far, one cadet said that she knew what she was getting into, but has been looking forward to the camp for some time. “From listening to everybody around the station talking about the camp, I expected a lot,” Elizabethtown Junior Firefighter Caitlin Cross said. “They told me it would be brutal.”

But when their time in camp is done, these cadets will be able to take back to their stations an extensive working knowledge of what to do when their tones go off for a call – and they will have the bragging rights of their survival of First Due Firefighter Camp.