A group of Fayette County citizens has gotten a feel for the firefighter profession. Next week, 15 people will graduate from the Citizen's Fire Academy. Public Education Firefighter Kyle Branham says a number of tactical techniques are taught during the 11 week academy. "Engine operations where we get the flow hand lines and we also do ladder operations where they climb the ladder and flow water out the ladder and do search and rescue," said Branham. "And then it kind of leads up to that night out at the Bluegrass Airport Training Center where they actually get to do some firefighting out there."
Kyle Branham says the training is more than classroom instruction. "They get to interact with the guys that are on the truck," he said. "They get to learn a little bit about them. They get to learn a little bit about the brotherhood and just how there's so many facets of the job and things that we do, far beyond just going in and putting out fires."
Branham training includes EMS assistance, vehicle extraction, and inspections. Some 400 people have participated in citizen fire academies in Lexington.?
