The job of a firefighter is an all-around challenging one.  On Saturday, April 4th, approximately 150 high school fire science students came together to be physically challenged in the 6th Annual Fire Science Muster competition.  The event took place at Westgate in Glendale. The 4-5 person teams represented several schools from the Deer Valley Unified High School District, Glendale Union High School District, Peoria Unified School District and Phoenix Union High School District.

The students were timed while accomplishing several tasks including;  dressing in full firefighter protective gear, properly putting on the SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus), extending a fire engine water supply line with a humat valve (a valve used to connect the hose line to the fire hydrant), opening a fire hydrant using a hydrant wrench and a practice fire hydrant, extending a 200 foot firefighter hose line from a fire engine and of course the rescue drag using a manikin.

Glendale Firefighters Ruben Florez (left)
and Sal Fernandez (right) cheer on
Glendale High Senior Alex Venzor.

“This is a group of high school students, some who want to be firefighters and some who don’t necessarily, who come together each year to compete in a series of events. This is a great way, with the guidance and instruction of their fire science instructors, to encourage sportsmanship and also a great way to highlight the importance of rules and regulations as all of the tasks are timed and penalty points are enforced.” Said Darrel B. Wiseman, Phoenix Fire Captain and Glendale Union High School District Fire Science Program Coordinator. “The instructors who are firefighters for their respective cities are given an opportunity to educate these students on many of the tasks and positive behaviors that are carried out by firefighters on a daily basis,” said Captain Wiseman.

 “This is my goal. I really want to be a firefighter. This was a good event. It was physical and it was a competition but it was easy to cheer for the other teams because we are all in this together.  A lot of us are here for the same thing,” said Alex Venzor, Glendale High School Senior.