Some internships are more demanding than others – and more than one proud parent of a San Lorenzo Valley High School student graduating from the Boulder Creek Fire Department’s Internship Program said the program often sent their kid home exhausted.
“It’s a great launch pad for a career in firefighting or public safety, and they get a lot of practical experience, knowledge and exposure to other fire fighters in what is a pretty competitive profession,” said Jason Wichelmann, father of Spencer Wichelmann, one of 18 graduating interns honored by a dinner and presentation of graduation certificates held at the Boulder Creek Fire Station on May 30. After serving 20 years in the Aptos/La Selva District, the elder Wichelmann would know.
Each year for the last 20 years the Boulder Creek Fire Department has conducted a demanding, five month internship program for juniors and seniors at San Lorenzo High School, from the beginning of January until the end of May.
The program requires training and instruction two nights a week and all day every other Saturday, and includes a comprehensive program of how to handle basic fire equipment and tools including ladders and hoses, how to cut people out of wrecked cars, how to fight wild land fires, and how to properly use a firefighter’s self-contained breathing apparatus.
Boulder Creek Fire Chief Kevin McClish said he is as proud of the internship program generally as the parents of the current graduates. “It gives the students exposure to a potential career path and it provides a candidate pool for all of the volunteer fire agencies here in the valley. The majority of our firefighters have been through the program and dozens of our former interns have gone on to careers in the fire service,” McClish wrote in an email to the Press Banner.
At the graduation event, each of the 18 graduating interns were asked to identify one thing they learned and say something about their future plans. Responses ranged from, “I learned to shut up when I was told to shut up,” and “enough push-ups make you remember what you are told to do,” to “fire service is a family- we win together and we lose together- and you are always a member of a team.”
Evan Seligman, a senior at SLV High School, said he learned, “a lot about what fire fighters are responsible for doing and it provided him with real, on the job training.” Seligman said he is likely to go through the EMT training program at the City of San Jose’s Community College, after which he will be looking to transfer to a four-year university.
Gabriel Michaud, 17, said his favorite training was cutting somebody out of a wrecked car with “Jaws of Life” and other cutting tools, and the most exhausting was the “Wildland Fire” day in which he had to carry 100 foot lengths of fire hose considerable distances.
Battalion Chief Chuck Wise, the internship program coordinator for the last six years, explained that while the internship is physically demanding, he tries to impart the critical need for discipline and teamwork, as well as some basics of fire science. The internship includes research and writing two papers – about the evolution of fire science and fire fighting techniques, and how a particular fire disaster resulted in changes to the fire code or fire fighting procedures.
Danielle Winters, Assistant Principal of San Lorenzo High School who helps coordinate the applications to the internship, wrote in an email to the Press Banner that, “We are extremely proud of the young men and women who have completed the Boulder Creek fire internship. This program helps connect school to the real world. After 181 hours of hard work, this group is leaving the internship with a solid skill set and a plan for the future.”
The 18 interns who graduated are:
Chase Collins
Mateo Corona
Tyler Dawson
Tyler Goedeck
Caleb Hanson
Jaden Keil-Ribera
Blake Kuehl
Griffin Livingston
Gabriel Michaud
Niren Mohammed
Nathan Moore
Duquan Ruff
Codey Runcorn
Evan Seligman
Quinn Solan
Spencer Wichelmann
Andy Wise
Sophian Zachau
