Wildwood Teachers ‘Firefighters for a Day’

WILDWOOD — Members of the Wildwood City Fire Department provided 10 Wildwood School District teachers with their lifelong dream of being a firefighter for the day as part of their teacher in-service wellness initiative day.
Our “firefighters for the day” successfully completed fire ground tasks in a safe and efficient manner and fulfilled their dreams of becoming Wildwood Firefighters.
These tasks included; Hose Drag, Hydrant Familiarization, Tool Carry, Forcible Entry, Stair Climb, Victim Drag and Fire Attack.
After the challenge Captain Grauel congratulated everyone on their hard work. Some teachers were surprised at how much work it takes to complete the seemingly basic tasks of a fire ground. Captain Grauel said all these basic tasks get completed in full Personal Protective Equipment, weighing approximately 80 pounds, by firefighters in very stressful situations and is exactly why a superior fitness level is required to be a successful firefighter in the Wildwood City Fire Department.
Captain Grauel is the Departments PFT (Peer Fitness Trainer) and provides fitness programs to Wildwood Firefighters to help maintain their fitness levels and combat the number one cause of Firefighter Line-of-Duty Deaths – Stress or overexertion causing strokes or heart attacks.
Firefighters participating were: Captains James Grauel and Daniel Dunn, Firefighters Rob Feltwell, Gerry Vessels, Matt Long, Tina Sacco and Sean Stanton.