CITRUS HEIGHTS, Calif. — Kids from 11 to 13 spent the first day of Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District's four-day fire camp climbing into buildings and discovering more ways to fight fire with water—all under the guidance of professional firefighters.
Fire camp kicked off Tuesday at Fire Station 21 in Citrus Heights with the goal of showing potential aspiring firefighters the basic duties entailing the job.
Chris Allen, with Sacramento Metropolitan Fire, is one of the firefighters on staff at fire camp, but he's also a father with a son at the four-day program.
"My son gets to see me come home from work, and this will be the first time he's actually been able to try the skills," Allen told ABC10. "But he's going to learn there are necessary life skills, and there's coaching and the benefits of the team is that we're going to push him through it and help him succeed."
Firefighters also said the fire camp is a good way for them to interact and instill values with their younger community members.
"Some of the stuff we teach them is not only fire safety— we teach them life skills," said Fire Captain Matt Sammons.
