ALL IN THE FAMILY As NCTC has grown its roster of dual credit fire academies, it’s also seen an interesting trend develop within the ranks of its future firefighter fraternity: sons and daughters following in their parents’ booted footsteps.
“It’s pretty amazing,” says their proud papa. “In Denton, we call it our ‘homegrown program.’ These kids come out of high school fully employable as firefighters and able to earn high salaries at the age of 18.”
“We’ve got quite a few dads whose kids are coming through our program now,” says Strider Floyd, NCTC’s Emergency Services department chair.
Two others in Denton’s dual credit program have dads who work for the Flower Mound Fire Department: Engineer Robert Sprabary’s son Kyle and Captain Jacob Ventrica’s son Tyler are both juniors. Meanwhile, Arlington firefighter Felipe Alvarado, who used to teach the adult firefighting classes at NCTC, became one of the lead instructors at Lewisville’s dual credit program this year, and his son David, a junior, is one of his students.
Topping the list is Denton Fire Chief, Ken Hedges, someone Floyd calls “a big supporter” of the program’s expansion efforts. In 2017, when NCTC opened its dual credit fire academy at Denton Advanced Technical Center with an initial offering of Emergency Medical Technician training, Hedges’ son Ethan was a member of the first class. After high school, Ethan followed that up with firefighter training and, at the age of 21, is celebrating two years of employment with the Frisco Fire Department. Meanwhile, Hedges’ second son, Caden, as a high school senior, has completed his firefighter training at DATC and will graduate in May with his EMT training completed as well.
Ken Hedges and two sons Ethan and Caden
“It’s pretty neat how it all worked out,” says Alvarado, who commutes from Lewisville to his job with the Arlington Fire Department. “Since he was two years old, I was in the firehouse, so David has grown up around this. He always said he wanted to be in the military, but when he was going into high school, he got interested in fire service in addition to the military. And then the dual credit program opened up, so here we are.”
Felipe Alvarado and son David
In three short years, NCTC’s Emergency Services department has sprinkled six dual credit firefighter programs throughout the region as part of a rapid expansion that mirrors North Texas’ population explosion and the resulting need for emergency personnel. Put another way, Fire Science’s dual credit program is spreading like a wildfire, equipping a growing number of civic-minded teens with the skills and training they need to launch careers as first responders – and all without ever stepping “… our surrounding foot onto a North communities are Central Texas growing so fast, it’s College campus. created a big demand for firefighters and Starting with the emergency medical 2017 opening of a personnel.” fire academy at Lake Dallas High School in Corinth, subsequent programs launched in short order at high schools in Lewisville and Denton (the Denton Advanced Technical Center), followed by Gainesville, Sanger and Little Elm this past fall. These innovative two-year fire academies offer high school juniors and seniors a direct pathway into fire service and the training they need to apply for jobs right out of high school. “Fire Service is an extremely competitive field,” says Strider Floyd, NCTC’s Emergency Services department chair. “The training is so specialized and our surrounding communities are growing so fast, it’s created a real shortage and a big demand for firefighters and emergency medical personnel. We’ve really had to bump up our efforts in response.”
DUAL CREDIT IS OFFERED AT Corinth Denton Gainesville Lewisville Little Elm Sanger
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FUTUREFOCUS 2020
