Adam Bumgarner 12, is a student at Lewis-Palmer High School who is training to be a Firefighter. Adam trains on a daily basis with the local Fire Chief and five other high school students.

He trains on weekends with the occasional weekday by putting out pre-set fires and by learning all the paramedical protocols that all firefighters must know. Bumgarner also trains to do search and rescue type situations with empty houses that have been set on fire.

“Then usually we eat lunch about, you know, midway through the day. That’s when we start to light the fires in the towers and then we go on the rigs; then they drive us to the house that we were fighting that day. We did the whole thing, we connected to a water supply, went inside to search and rescue all,” Bumgarner said. He explained that training, although fun, is a hard and labor inducing task.

Bumgarner explained how rewarding it can be to train with his group.

“I beat the record of actual firefighter who’s been training in forcible entry. The last record holder broke through to locked door in 1 minute, 11 seconds. And I broke through in just under 14 seconds,” said Bumgarner. He explains how well he is performing compared to a new fire recruit that has been firefighting for just over 1 year. He said he was pretty proud of this and that it was funny how he beat a actual firefighter.

Bumgarner then talked about what it is like to balance school life with his work life. He feels that balancing both can be very difficult at times.

“I have to balance schoolwork between, you know, going to the stations and being a useful member of the fire department,” Bumgarner said.

Bumgarner plans to continue his training for the rest of his senior year and then plans to become a recruit for the Monument Fire Department. As his training comes to an end, he is very excited to be inducted into the fire department.