EUGENE — Last Friday, Lane Fire School (LFS) introduced 73 high school students from six local schools to careers in wildland fire in its third annual event at Lane Community College.
Local high school students participated in Lane Fire Schools, an event. The station shown above was led by Sierra Pacific Industries and West Lane Fire to teach about hose usage and putting out fires.
Before LFS existed, there was no local culminating event for high school students in the Oregon Department of Forestry pathway.
“We came up with this fire school to expose the Oregon natural resource students in our county to different job opportunities and educational avenues in this field,” said Stacey Tuers, Springfield Public Schools career and technical education teacher on special assignment.
Tuers was a member of the committee which created LFS, and she added that the event’s purpose is to expose Lane County’s youth to wildland fire pathways. LFS featured hands-on engagement with practicing first aid, working with fire hoses, putting out fires, and more.
Thurston High School junior Emi Dano hopes to study wildlife biology at Oregon State University after graduating high school to ultimately develop a career in wildland fire. Dano’s experience evacuating for the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire sparked her dream to one day join this industry.
“I’m really interested in wildland fire stuff because they helped save my home,” Dano said.
