Locals among those at Fire Explorer Academy

By BEATRIZ E. VALENZUELA AND KRIS REILLY, LEADER STAFF

FORT IRWIN • More than 150 teens and young adults from all over San Bernardino and Riverside counties — including a few from Lucerne Valley — took part in the Inland Empire Fire Explorer Association Annual Explorer 20th Annual Academy in Fort Irwin last weekend.

“This is something that I would want to do again,” said 15-year-old Jacob Sobrito of Lucerne Valley. This was Sobrito’s first academy and was impressed with what he saw.

As part of their training, Explorers between the ages of 14 and 21 took part in the five-day event at the Fort Irwin National Training Center and learned about hazardous materials and did confined rescue training.

Keston Freeman-Yamawaki, 19, of Lucerne Valley, won the “Most Inspiring” award.

The participants received some education from Fort Irwin authorities on terrorism as well as air rescue operation and air fire operations, Apple Valley Fire Protection District Chief Art Bishop said.

Among other things, the Explorers cleaned up exploded bombs, studied how to rescue people in contaminated confined spaces and studied serial bombers.

“This is great academy that teaches teamwork and how to work under pressure,” said Jacob Cordero of Adelanto. This marks Cordero’s fourth academy.

Many of the Fire Explorers take this training as a stepping stone to their ultimate goal of becoming firefighters. Others take the experience and go on to take on other first-responder careers such as paramedics.

The academy kicked off on Thursday and continued until Sunday.

For more information on becoming a Fire Explorer, interested people can visit their local fire station and request an application.