DEVINE, Texas — High school students are fighting fires in Devine.
They're training for the job while earning their high school diploma.
Some graduates will walk the stage as a firefighter and EMT, eligible to work at any fire station in Texas.
KENS 5 learned how this unique program is also helping replenish an industry decimated by COVID.
"We had a lot of folks that retired out of our industry, a lot of folks who retired early out of our industry. A lot of people who got sick and left our industry. The academies were shut down during all that," said Gregory Atkinson, Chief of Devine Fire & Rescue.
Post-pandemic, fire departments across the country are scrambling for help.
In Devine, their recruitment style for firefighters and EMTs is so unique, departments across the state have to know their secret.
"They're like, 'How is Devine getting a bunch of 18 and 19-year-olds and their numbers have increased by triple over the last three years?' How is that happening?' The reality is it's this program," said Atkinson.
Right now, Devine High School is in the process of dividing into five career-based academies:
- Agriculture and Mechanical Academy
- Digital Communications, Multimedia & Visual Arts Academy
- Business, Legal, Marketing and Entrepreneurship Academy
- Emergency, Human & Public Services Academy
- STEM, IT & Manufacturing Academy
Within the five academies, there are 10 programs of study that produce 15 different certifications.
"We're looking to produce cosmetologists. We're looking to produce individuals who will be in manufacturing, machinists. We'll be looking to produce folks having an [agricultural] science background, turf management backgrounds. We'll be looking to produce students that are involved in law," said Devine High School Principal, Juan Michael Gonzalez. "It's a matter of students when they're in school understanding why they are in school."
Within the school's Emergency, Human & Public Services Academy, students learn how to be a firefighter and EMT.
The academy classes for Emergency Services will appear as follows:
- 9th grade: Principles of Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security
- 10th grade: Disaster Response
- 11th grade: Emergency Medical Technician
- 12th grade: Anatomy & Physiology OR Firefighter I/Firefighter II
To stay in the academy, each student must have good attendance and maintain a C average.
Once the students pass the state test for the EMT and firefighter certification, they will graduate with the opportunity to earn a starting salary of $45,000 to $55,000 a year.
"It's about students being competitive in the world once they graduate and it's our job as educators to give them that competitive edge, that competitive advantage," said Gonzalez. "Having skills like that, It's very simply skills pay the bills."
Although each student firefighter will be eligible to work upon graduating, Chief Atkinson still encourages a college degree. While entry-level firefighter positions typically don't require a college degree, advancing to higher positions such as lieutenant, battalion chief and fire chief likely require a postsecondary education.
"Some of the kids that are gonna go [to college] now may not have went before because they couldn't afford to," said Atkinson. "As a first responder, a lot of their classes are paid for."
Firefighter training for Devine High School students isn't easy. There are national standards they have to meet.
"They are going to burned houses, they are cutting open cars practicing extrication, they're working on patients, they have to go do rideouts with the ambulance services," Atkinson explained. "We don't want this to be a high school watered-down classroom. This is the real deal."
Sophomore Robert Matthew Pequeño said at first he had no interest in following in his father's footsteps as a firefighter.
But he still gave it a try.
"I came here and I fell in love with it," said Pequeño. "It's really scary, but I know I'm doing something good."
What surprised him is the amount of medical studies required to complete the academy. As the first junior firefighter in Devine, he says he's proud to be part of history.
His advice to younger students considering a spot in the academy? "It takes a lot of courage, a lot of leadership, a lot of training," he said. "You can do it if you put your mind to it."
Pequeño's goal is to become a firefighter in a big city while moving up the ranks.
Devine High School senior, Lucas Thomas, shares that same dream.
"Coming out of high school, I think that extra year or two years on will definitely help me experience wise, leadership wise, hopefully rank wise," said Thomas, who was more interested in just being an EMT at first.
Once he started training on the firefighter side of the academy, his mind changed. He began to volunteer in 2023 with Devine Fire & Rescue.
"Both medical side and fire side I feel very well prepared, very well taught and very well versed in what I'm going into," said Thomas. "It's just been a constant learning adventure. It's been fun."
At 18, Thomas is already going on runs as a firefighter.
The most fulfilling part, he said, is helping people he knows.
"This is a close-knit community, so I'd say about a fourth of the calls we go on, you know somebody somewhere or somehow," Lucas explained. "I've also had the privilege of helping two students at my school who have been in some sort of medical emergency."
This year at Devine High School's graduation, 10 students will cross the stage as EMTs and two more as EMTs/firefighters.
"I hear a lot about this generation. 'This generation is lazy. This generation doesn't wanna work. This generation was raised different'," Atkinson added. "I find that to be simply not the case. I've got a bunch of teenagers and young people who are hungry to belong to something that really matters."