The afternoon of July 14 was a special chance for the kids in a Madison south side neighborhood to see firefighters, talk to firefighters and to actually be firefighters as Fire Station 6 firefighters hosted a group of 14 teenage boys and taught them about the Madison Fire Department and why firefighting is a career worth considering.

“More and more, we have to plant the seed for our young people that firefighting is an excellent career opportunity,” Johnny Winston, Division Chief, Organization & Community Liaison for the Madison Fire Department and a longtime firefighter himself, told Madison 365.

Winston does a lot of community outreach with his position at the Madison Fire Department and he thought to himself that rather than the Madison Fire Department reinventing the wheel all of the time, why not reach out to existing programs right down the street and bring them to fire stations?

“I saw that Nehemiah Center had a program called BROTHER and I reached out and mentioned that they were right up the street from Fire Station Number 6 (just off Park Street on W. Badger Road). I asked: would you be interested in coming down to the station and letting the kids learn more about being a firefighter?”
P_BROTHER023
The BROTHER (Building Real Opportunities That Help Everyone Rise) summer program at Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership provides a space for African-American middle school boys to learn life skills including respect, leadership, and positive self-identity. The young men at the BROTHER summer program work through a curriculum of key issues related to the transition to adulthood.

“The crew at Station 6 really did a nice job of hosting the young people,” Winston says. “We got them into some fire gear and showed them our fire apparatus. It was really a hands-on opportunity for the crew to work with neighborhood kids and for the neighborhood kids to see up close and personal about being a firefighter.”

The teenagers got to participate in hands-on activities, including putting on gear, handling tools, practicing EMS basics such as CPR, and learning how to handle fire hoses.
P_BROTHER0443
“This was a little more hands-on than what we normally do. But I think it was really effective,” Winston says. “I hope we can do more of that.

“There was a little trepidation at first with the kids. They were, at first, like: What’s this and who are these people? But as time went on, you could see them getting more and more into the program,” Winston continues. “They got to hold the fire hoses and to shoot the water. We just don’t do that every day to every group that comes through for a tour. They got to actually put on the fire gear so they could actually see what they could be in the future. It was a great opportunity for them to ask questions and to have one-on-one conversations with the firefighters.”

According to the National Fire Protection Association, only about 8 percent of the nation’s firefighters are African American.
P_BROTHER053 Locally, the Madison Fire Department has been working hard to diversify, but there is still much room for improvement.

“What was great about the day was that it was kids being able to see role models face to face. I think that’s really important. I know that [Madison Fire] Chief [Steven] Davis feels very strongly about the fire department being really diverse and representing the community that we serve,” Winston says. “So, programs like this really get at the heart of that and give kids the opportunity to see somebody that might look like them … and maybe they will aspire to be them.

“I look at it as a recruiting tool for the future,” Winston adds. “We don’t have a volunteer department; everybody in the Madison Fire Department is a paid professional so there’s not really much opportunity to see the fire department beforehand at this point. So when we do the community outreach, it’s really important not just for P.R. but for actually showing kids that, hey, this could be you in 5-10 years.”

So, will be seeing more of these community collaborations in the future?

“We definitely want to do more of this in the future,” Winston says. “We want to partner with other organizations and neighborhood centers and Boys and Girls Clubs and with all of the folks who are doing good work in our community. We want to be a part of that.”