A new partnership between the Mobile County Public School System and the city of Mobile will place a dozen or more Junior ROTC students inside the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department starting with the 2015-2016 school year, in what officials described as the first program of its kind in Alabama.
Under the agreement, announced this week, JROTC seniors will spend 10 hours each week, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on school days, working alongside Fire-Rescue staff to learn the administrative and leadership side of running an emergency response department. Lt. Col. (ret.) Robert Barrow, who directs the school system’s Army JROTC program, said the goal is to give students real-world experience they otherwise would not get in a classroom.
“This opportunity will allow seniors to get real-time, real-world experience,” Barrow said, adding that organizers hope the internship inspires some participants to eventually pursue careers with the department.
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson framed the program as part of a broader effort to keep talented young people in the city rather than losing them to job opportunities elsewhere. “It’s so important to stop the attrition of our best and brightest having to go somewhere else to find jobs,” Stimpson said.
Rear Adm. (ret.) Rich Landolt, the city’s executive director of public safety, said Fire-Rescue was a natural fit for the pilot program because the department can hire applicants as young as 18, unlike the Mobile Police Department, which requires candidates to be at least 21. The internship will be open to any interested student, Landolt said, regardless of gender, as long as they show genuine interest in fire and rescue work.
More than 1,700 students are currently enrolled in Mobile County’s JROTC program, according to Barrow. To qualify for the Fire-Rescue internship, students must meet several requirements, including physical fitness standards, CPR certification, and the ability to commit to the required weekly hours.
Mobile Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief Billy Pappas said the program will initially place 12 students with captains, district chiefs and deputy chiefs across several divisions, including training, EMS, public education, fire inspection, homeland security and logistics, with plans to grow enrollment to as many as 20 students per year. Pappas said participants will also learn how the department coordinates with outside agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Alabama Department of Health, and that some students may go on to the department’s paramedic cadet program at the University of South Alabama after graduation.
“To us it’s a win-win,” Pappas said.