OXFORD HILLS — As it continues to be difficult to recruit people to join the ranks of aging fire departments, officials are looking at a long-term solution they say can benefit everyone: a junior firefighter program at the high school.

Roughly a month ago, fire officials, including Norway Chief Dennis Yates, Oxford Chief Wayne Jones and Paris Chief Brad Frost, sat down with representatives from SAD 17 to discuss developing a program, which could be launched as early as the spring semester.

“We’re always looking at programming, what’s new, what’s a good thing for our community, our kids,” Oxford Hills Technical School Director Shawn Lambert said. “I welcomed the chance to have a conversation with them. We talked about different possibilities.”

Paris Interim Town Manager Bill Guindon has extensive experience in the fire industry and started his career at the age of 16 through a junior firefighter program. He said not only would Paris, Norway and Oxford gain new recruits from such a program, but all of the Oxford Hills’ 11 fire departments could benefit as well.

Aging firefighters is one of the major issues fire departments across the country face. The national average age of a firefighter is 54, Paris Deputy Chief Jon Longley said.

Recruitment issues include people being less civic-minded than they were in the past and extensive training requirements, Longley said. To become a basic firefighter, it takes 250 hours of training, plus test time.

Lambert said he explained to the fire officials that a tech program would have to be approved by the state.

“It has to look at employable positions and unfortunately with fire science, a lot of the positions are volunteer,” he said. “That said, there are ways around that. It’s not a deal killer.”

Lambert is eyeing three possibilities for a junior firefighter program in the Oxford Hills: the tech school hosting its own full-blown program; partnering with Region 9 School of Applied Technology in Mexico, which already has a junior firefighter program; or splitting instructors with Region 9.

“What if we were somehow able to pay for transportation between our two schools? Region 9 has some programs we don’t have and vice versa,” Lambert said, adding that he’s exploring using Western Maine Transportation to shuttle students.

Longley, who has been the fire science instructor at Region 9 for five years, said the curriculum for the program was written by the National Fire Protection Association. Students ages 14-17 are required to have 350 contact hours — “getting real-life experience,” as Guindon calls it — before they can take the certification test.

“There’s a minimum standard that’s a nationally recognized standard they’re tested to,” Guindon said, noting the curriculum is more aggressive than normal high school programs. “Either you did it or you didn’t.”

Morin added high school is the perfect time to get youth interested in firefighting.

“It’s a lot easier to get them trained when they’re in school because they’re in that mode of learning, versus myself: I graduated in 1994,” he said.

Once completed, students would earn six college credits through Southern Maine Community College or Eastern Maine Community College and could continue to receive free credits if they complete the hazmat or emergency services portion of the program, Longley said.

Funding such a program is a concern for all parties involved, but the chiefs told Lambert they might have access to some federal grant money if he does not.

There are five Oxford Hills students who want to sign up for Region 9’s junior firefighter program, including Morin’s 15-year-old daughter, who attended a program in Vermont this summer. He said his daughter wasn’t fazed when she got into a bit of trouble and her cellphone was taken away, but he noted she “was just devastated” when they took away her fire pager.

“Once they get out there and get into it, I know it’s something they’ll enjoy,” Morin said.

Lambert said he hadn’t surveyed students recently to see if they would sign up for a junior firefighter program.

“I know anecdotally there is student interest,” he said. “There is just probably more unknowns than knowns, but there is an expressed concern and need and we’re exploring all that.”

Those interested in a junior firefighter program in the Oxford Hills can contact the fire chiefs and/or Lambert at: Norway Fire Chief Dennis Yates, 743-5300; Paris Fire Chief Brad Frost, 743-6832; Oxford Fire Chief Wayne Jones, 539-4509 or [email protected]; and Oxford Hills Tech School Director Shawn Lambert, 743-8914 or [email protected].

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