Goodfellow kids learn how to save lives Published July 26, 2016 17th Training Wing Public Affairs GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- The Goodfellow Fire Department staff hosted its Annual Junior Firefighter Camp for children at the base fire station and Louis F. Garland Department of Defense Fire Academy July 18 through July 22.The camp provides children from 9 to 13 years of age the chance to learn fire safety and prevention skills. It also lends them the opportunity to see if being a firefighter is a career they would want to pursue in the future.“The whole point of the class is to introduce them to the firefighter career field and show them some of the things that we will do,” said Jason Garcia, Goodfellow Fire Department assistant chief. “We’re trying to give them a base for the future, but also we’re trying to teach them teamwork.”The camp included activities such as ladder operations, fire hose evolutions, extinguisher training, ropes and knots training, building search and rescue, and how to put on firefighter gear.At the end of the week, the Fire Academy graduated the children who participated. For graduating, they received free customized t-shirts, a fire department badge and a certificate of completion of the Junior Firefighter Camp.During the camp, each child was interviewed and photographed in firefighter gear for a slideshow presented at the graduation.“It [The camp] will help us with safety because if anybody gets injured we could help them with the fire training moves,” said Isabella Chapa, a child that participated in the camp. “I liked when we had to use the fire hose to knock a soccer ball off a cone.”
