The alarm sounds, the engine starts, everyone jumps into their gear and they speed off. This is a routine firefighters know well, but what about students? Assistant Principal Katie Sullivan has been working to bring a fire safety course to Londonderry so students can learn about this field before going off to college.

“One day, I forget which [student] I was talking to, but they said, ‘Miss Sullivan, wouldn’t it be awesome if we had [a class like] this when we were here as students? Because it would have saved us a lot of redirecting in life,’” Sullivan said.

Next year, Londonderry is going to be able to offer its first fire safety Extended Learning Opportunity (ELO) course. This course will allow high school students to figure out if they are interested in this field before college.

“Our goal is to help students dip their toes in the water, just to get them a little experience of firefighting, EMT, ambulance, everything that is wrapped up in the firehouse,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan has been working closely with Lieutenant/Paramedic Anthony Maccarone at the Londonderry Fire Department. Maccarone is also the Community Relations Assistant Coordinator, meaning he deals with anything involving the community, like setting up this course.

“Katie Sullivan was looking to collaborate and create some type of program, and this started almost two years ago when I ran into Rick Barnes, where he had started talking about how he wanted an intern program,” Maccarone said. “At the time, it just wasn’t feasible; we had too much going on, and it wasn’t going to work.”

Sullivan then approached Maccarone again seven months ago, and she said that she would really like to get a program going and asked what he could create. That night, he created a “massive” proposal. After some back and forth, this proposal was put to life.

“Students will come over B and C period where they will come to the Central Fire House and they will do their hands-on skills,” Maccarone said. “What we’re utilizing for this particular program is the On My Time learning, which is through the Fire Academy.

The On My Time classes are the exact same classes fire recruits get, the only difference is that these students will be completing their work in their time. In order for students to be able to work with Maccarone, they will need to pass each of their online modules.

“It’s not even designed for students, it’s designed for adults, but I figured that this would be a really great way for kids to start getting into seeing it because they can watch the videos and answer questions, which [helps] them to pass the modules,” Maccarone said.

According to Sullivan, students will go to the fire station at least twice a week to do hands-on training, and while they are not there, they will be working on their online coursework.

“One day a week will be their online class and then the other day will be either community service or healthy living, so working out, going for walks, fitness challenges, all that stuff,” Sullivan said.

While at the fire station, students will pull hose lines, work with the conex boxes, learn how to self-extricate, which includes second-floor bailouts and ladder bailouts, they’ll perform vehicle extrication and gain medical knowledge.

“The full course itself, Katie and I still haven’t fully developed it,” Maccarone said. “I know what I want to do, I know what we’re going to set up, but this is the pilot program. We know there’s going to be stumbling, we know there’s going to be some issues trying to work our way through it, but every year that this runs, we will make it that much better.”

Even though this course may not be smooth sailing this first year, Maccarone is excited for the opportunities to come with it.

“I’m excited that the kids are gonna get what they want,” Maccarone said. “I’m excited that it’s going to give kids an experience and they’re going to learn whether they like it or don’t like it right off the bat. That way they can plan the rest of their life and their career and what they want to do.”

Although there is a very slim chance of this occurring, if a student completes all of their modules for Fire I and Fire II and finds an instructor, like Maccarone, to sign off on them, they could test out for their Fire I certification. From here, the student would go to the Fire Academy, take the test as a practical and a written one, and if they pass it, the student would get the certification without going through a recruit school.

“Because all the kids are very young, the chances of a student actually being good enough to be qualified to go and test up at the state are very slim,” Maccarone said.

If a student really wants to be a firefighter and they go through the program and feel like, ‘yeah, this one’s awesome, I want to keep going,’ there is a program up at the Manchester School of Technology that people can go to. According to Maccarone, “if you’re already 18, then I can work with you afterward and we can do a few more classes and then I’ll sign off if you’re really good enough and I’ll let you go test up at the state.”

Maccarone also acknowledges that not all students will like the class, and that is totally fine too.

“Outside of this, maybe the only thing you learn is that you don’t want to do it, and that’s okay too,” Maccarone said. “That’s a really good experience to actually get in there and say, ‘well, I’ve done medical and fire and I don’t like any of this.’ You learned what you’re not going to do. Perfect, you didn’t waste any college money, you didn’t burn up any time, you’re in high school and life is still good.”

The most important thing to Maccarone is that students show up and participate.

“It’s okay if you don’t love the job, it’s okay if you’re not into it, as long as you come and participate, have a great attitude and have fun, you’ll probably pass my class,” Maccarone said. “Just keep going through it, hang out with us. We’ll get you through, you’ll get a credit, and you do not have to go and test out for it, it’s just an Extended Learning Opportunity credit.”

One student taking this class next year is sophomore Summer Butler. Butler is excited for everything she will learn with this fire safety course.

“I’m excited for all the hands-on experiences and all the new opportunities that come with [this class],” Butler said. “If you are thinking about [joining the class], you should totally do it because this is a new program for all of us and we’re all in this together.”