By Fox23.com News Staff
TULSA, Okla. — Family members of Tulsa Fire Department cadets got an upclose look at their loved ones’s training.
Cadets learned the proper techniques for safely managing and putting out a liquefied petroleum gas burn.
One of the cadets shared why doing this in front of family was so important.
“I’m super happy to have my family here, my wife and my two kids,” says Jeremy Fite, a Tulsa Fire Cadet. “I’ve been telling them stories every time I come home from work about the fun things we’ve done here and it’s good to provide some context so they can understand a little bit more. My son and my daughter have been really excited to see fire trucks.”
Spencer Yeager, Chief of Training at TFD says the burn is usually saved for family night and it’s a good time for cadets and family.
“We always kind of save that once we’re well into the class where they’ve acquainted and we make a family night out of it,” says Yeager. “We do a big burn; petroleum burn after dark. It’s pretty impressive, so the family comes up. We serve them dinner and they get to come watch and see what they’re learning about and what they’re doing so it’s a great time for the cadets.
Yeager says it’s a really neat experience for the family to see. They only get to hear about it from the cadets, but during the family night event, they get to actually see it for themselves.
“I’ve had a number of them say ‘thank you’ and it’s really great to be able to come up and do this. I think as a whole, it’s a success for all of them.” says Yeager.
Yeager says with the training, cadets do such training for things like searching, where they are put in situations that have zero visibility.
“Those are probably exciting days and tough to explain to their families, but probably some days, they were hard on us today; our workouts were tough.” says Yeager.
Yeager says his main objective is instilling in cadets the importance of being in shape and making them comfortable being uncomfortable.
“Even when we tell them how good of shape they’re going to need to be in, they don’t understand until they get here. It’s a very grueling physical program for them.”
There is also mental health training that Yeager says is also extended to family members.
He says he is extremely proud of progress the cadets have made.
“They are doing a great job.” he says.
Fire Academy Class 113 is scheduled to graduate from training on March 26.
