INDIANAPOLIS — High school students across central Indiana are getting hands-on experience in firefighting and emergency response at the Emergency Services Education Center on Indianapolis' west side.
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The center equips current and future firefighters with the skills, confidence and leadership they need to save lives.
Students from Ben Davis High School's Area 31 Career Center are among those training at the facility.
One of the props the students use to train is a maze which helps build confidence navigating through a house during a fire.
"It's getting you comfortable with being in tight spaces," said Macy Wilkes, a junior at Ben Davis High School.
"It's pitch black in there. There's like tunnels, slopes and stairs to go around," said Ben Ray, a senior at Area 31 Career Center.
Both students are enrolled in the Fire and Rescue program and have family connections to the fire service. Ray's father and Wilkes' uncle are both Plainfield firefighters.
"Just recently I've realized how important it is saving lives and how special that could be," Ray said.
"I just always admired the way that every day is different and you never know what you're going to show up to," Wilkes said.
Billie Auberry is an EMT instructor at the center. She's been a firefighter for 37 years.
"It's just an exciting job to be able to go in and save somebody's life and their property," Auberry said.
The Emergency Services Education Center primarily focuses on firefighter training and EMT training, according to Assistant Public Information Officer Olivia Roberts.
"There are other training facilities located across Indiana, but none of which provide the level of props or training level that we can provide," Roberts said.
During recent training sessions, recruits from the West Central Academy, including Brownsburg firefighters, completed training to earn certifications.
At the center, there is a six story training tower.
"So with the tower we have a lot of opportunity. They'll do propels, so rope rescue type of trainings, and then we have a gas prop building where they can do fire simulations, so doing smoke training searches, even suppression," Roberts said.
Roberts says firefighters come from across the country to train at ESEC.
"Not every day at the station is spent catching fires or very specific runs, so it's important that they have a place where they can get their training done and stay confident in those skills, even if they're not implementing them on a day to day basis at the fire station," Roberts said.
The students say they are learning teamwork, communication and the will to run toward danger so when the community needs them, they'll be ready.
"Without communication, the entire process just falls completely apart," Ray said.
"We've learned search and rescue, forced entry, just pulling hose. I'm really grateful for the work-based learning because yeah, usually you're just like in algebra class, but here get to like learn skills that can transfer on to like life in general," Wilkes said.
In January, the Emergency Services Education Center will launch a "Path to the Patch" program designed to guide would-be firefighters through every step of the hiring process. The program is open to anyone interested in a career as a firefighter.
