Pulling for Nathan Norman

Nathan's Story - Click to learn more

Nathan's Facebook Page

Nathan's Mail 

Nathan Journey on YouTube

Please see the below internet link from Sgt. Robert Carpentieri, a Virginia State Police Public Information Officer in Division VI.  There is a 6 year old child in Rustburg, VA who is dying of terminal cancer.  His special request is to receive Christmas cards from police officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel.  We are passing this information along for your consideration of sending this child a card or whatever you may deem appropriate.   

Please see the original email below.  Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
You can call the Virginia Fusion Center at 804-674-2196.

Sergeant Robert J. Carpentieri

Public Information Officer

Virginia State Police, Division VI

Office: (540) 375-9598

Cell: (540) 309-0320

Fax: (540) 387-5527

North Carolina State Firemen's Association

ncsfa.com Serving Since 1887

A friend of mine that is a life-saving crew member in Bedford County emailed me a request and asked for our help within the State Police family.

There is a 6 year old boy from Rustburg, Virginia that is dying of terminal cancer and he might not live to see Christmas. His special request is to receive Christmas cards from police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel.

I would appreciate if you could take a few minutes out of your busy schedule and grant Nathan’s wish by sending him a card.

Let’s show our support!

Cards can be mailed to:

Nathan Norman

81 Dunivan Drive

Rustburg, Virginia 24588

Qualities of Leadership - Leadership Quotes

Click for the Video on Qualities of Leadership

Fighting Fires and Heart Disease -

Fighting Fires and Heart Disease
A Guest Blog Entry by Paige Taylor

Firefighters are often commended on their heart for choosing such a courageous career.  But something else is striking about their hearts:  the leading cause of death for firefighters is heart disease. In order to keep firefighters healthy, it’s important to know how to maintain a lifestyle that’s good for the heart.

According to WebMD, almost 20% of all deaths from heart disease in the U.S. are related to cigarette smoking.  A person’s risk of heart attack greatly increases as a smoker, and nicotine causes a number of damaging effects, such as decreasing oxygen to the heart, increasing blood pressure and heart rate, and damaging the cells that line coronary arteries.  Although many people don’t consider smoking cigarettes as dangerous as other drug addictions, A representative from treatment centers. net explains that the risk of death from smoking is roughly 11 times that of addiction to other drugs. Quitting smoking can reduce the risk of many diseases, including heart disease.  Firefighters interested in quitting can join the Put It Out smoking cessation campaign for support.

Firefighters put their bodies through tremendous physical pressure, so staying fit and active should come naturally.  But exercising can also help prevent heart disease.  Mayo Clinic points out that exercising for 30 minutes on most days of the week can reduce your risk of fatal heart disease.  Even shorter amounts of exercise offer benefits and reduce chances of developing conditions that strain the heart, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

Another tool for reducing the risk of heart disease is to eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products.  The American Heart Association recommends a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.  Limit certain fats:  saturated fat and trans fat increase the risk of coronary artery disease by raising cholesterol levels.  Red meat, dairy products, deep-fried foods, and packaged snack foods are major sources of these kinds of fats.  Cooking at the station doesn't mean you have to sacrifice healthy and nutritious foods, and sites like healthy-fighter.org have nutrition resources recommended for firefighters.

Although many people know that quitting smoking, exercising, and eating a nutritious diet can help prevent heart disease, it’s important for firefighters to move beyond just knowing these facts and start making changes to their attitudes and behaviors.  Firefighters save lives, but it’s important that they save their own as well.

Paige Taylor is a writer from Central Michigan University and she was interested in sharing some information on firefighters safety. Paige writes mainly about occupational hazards to help promote safety in the workplace. 

Best wishes - Stay Healthy and Safe,
Paige Taylor

Skills USA NC 47th Leadership and Skills Conference

Firefighting Contestants and Judges
Concord High School Fire Academy - Top 5 CHSFA on the Stage
Mission Accomplished! But read on - There is More...
On the Spiral Staircase
In Mrs. Black's Office
Not pictured - Trevor Cruse
At the Entrance to Greensboro Public Safety Academy

Score Sheet showing the Place,Name, Ties, Scores, and Test Scores



CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF OUR PHOTOS
VIDEOS ARE ON OUR YouTube CHANNEL - Nomex1996

The 47th Skills USA NC Leadership and Skills Conference was held in Greensboro, NC
April 17th -19th, 2012.

Last year, Chief Barlow was able to take 3 recruits to compete and they placed 2nd, 6th, and 7th in the Firefighting Competition. On the way home last year these recruits vowed that they wanted to put 5 members of our Skills Chapter on the stage and take home 1st through 5th place.
This year our 9 recruits that signed up for Skills USA NC Firefighting came from four of Cabarrus County's High Schools. Five recruits from Concord, two from Mt. Pleasant, one from Central Cabarrus, and one from Hickory Ridge. Seven were Seniors and two were Sophomores. Eight male and one female. Collectively they trained for this competition more than 500 hours.

During the briefing on Tuesday after the Techspo held at the Greensboro Colliseum, our recruits practiced their Skills and Knots. The other competitors all jumped in and learned as well. The morning of the Competition, all competitors again practiced while waiting for Greensboro Fire Department Engine 14-B to arrive. This crew served last year as the judges and would do so again this year. Chief Barlow served as the Coordinator of the Competition.
The competition this year was very close. While Chief Barlow and Mr. Albert Doleman of Salisbury tallied up the results and ranked the 20 competitors, the Concord High School Fire Academy recruits were touring the Greensboro Fire Academy and completing the Firefighter Combat Challenge. When they finished, the Battalion Chief of Training gave each of our seven Seniors an Application packet and told them that he would like to see the Application complete and on his desk on or before September 1st if they wanted to begin their career with the Greensboro Fire Department.

The results were quite surprising. There was a two way tie for 1st Place, a three way tie for second Place, another three way tie for third Place, and another two way tie for 4th Place.

Final Results were decided by scores on the Written Test taken at the time of Regionals.

RESULTS
First Place - Jacob Whitley - Concord HS Fire Academy
Will represent NC at the National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri in late June
Second Place - Brandon Blackwelder - Concord High School Fire Academy
Third Place - Taylor Beverly - Concord High School Fire Academy
Fourth Place - Will James - Concord High School Fire Academy
Fifth Place - Kyle Franklin - Concord High School Fire Academy
We had succeeded! We placed our 5 recruits on the Stage.
BUT.... There's More...
We skipped 6th Place... (We had to share) and took
Seventh Place - James Bellamy - Concord High School Fire Academy
Eighth Place - Kaitlin Wood - Concord High School Fire Academy
Ninth Place - Trevor Cruse - Concord High School Fire Academy
Tenth Place - Damon Davis - Concord High School Fire Academy

The most amazing thing is that the Ties were all with our own recruits and the Total Point Spread between 1st and 10th place was only 4 Points from 40 -44 out of a possible 50 points.
Skills USA NC Awards Ceremony - Firefighting Awards
Video at front and Awards are at the 1:22:00 mark
Update 3 has a bit of video

Visits from more School Systems and the State Director of Career and Technical Education

Our Guests learn what the program means to Concord High School
Mrs. Black explains how we operate
Observing the Hose Rolling Demonstrations

On March 27th, 2012 the Concord High School Fire Academy was once again visited by more School Systems to see what we do and how we operate. This visit was made by the Wayne County Public Schools out of Goldsboro, NC and the Rockingham County Schools from Eden, NC. These two school systems bring the count of school systems visiting the CHS Fire Academy to 21. We must be doing something right. At least I hope so.

Also visiting were members of the NC Department of Public Instruction including:
Mrs. JoAnne Honeycutt - Director of Career and Technical Education
Dr. Daniel Smith - Section Chief of Student Certification and Credentialling
David Barbour - Specialist for Trade and Industry
Mrs. Lisa Conger - Director of CTE for Cabarrus County Schools
Mr. Jerry Hathcock - CDC for Concord High School
Mrs. Carla Black - Principal - Concord High School

The visit was hosted by Chief Barlow's Intro To Public Safety Class. After sharing a bit about the program, the recruits did several demonstrations including Turnout Gear Donning and Hose Rolling Drills.

Three of our Recruits Complete their Live Burn Practicals with Allen Volunteer Fire Department

Zack, Taylor, and Kyle
Group Pose
Taylor going in again
Kyle after the hottest burn of the day - He was on the Nozzle

The Hottest Burn - Crew is inside

Kyle and Zack

Three of our Recruits are members of Allen Volunteer Fire Department. After completing their NFPA 1403 classes they were invited to participate in a Live Burn of an acquired structure by their Chief. After several evenings of preparing the structure, these guys were ready for the event. On Saturday March 31, the Live Burn was conducted with 4 NC Live Burn Instructors from Concord, Kannapolis, and RCCC.

All three recruits were assigned to different crews and a lot of good instruction was gained by these guys. Each recruit was able to go in on Fire Attack multiple times. Kyle Franklin got the hottest fire and it had the crew forced down on the floor. Look at his helmet - Number 39 and you can see the darker color.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF THE PHOTOS

Portable Fire Extinguisher Class Battalion I

"Proper Form - Have a Plan A and B for backing out"

Mrs. Kogo joins us for the Practicals

Battalion I took the Portable Fire Extinguisher Class Practicals and also instructed Mrs. Kogo our Foods Teacher in the correct use of the Extinguisher.
CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF OUR PHOTOS

Rescue Class - Battalion 2 - Spring 2012

Look - A Convertible
Cutting the C-Post
"Roof Removal Final Cuts"
"Vehicle Extrication -Roof Removal"

Josh Kelly Instructing on his Bailout Prop
Click Here for the You Tube Videos
"How To Set Up Your Tools As Anchors"
"Why Learning Bailout Techniques is So Important"
"Josh Kelly demonstrates the Bailout Prop"
"Battalion 2 Practices Proper Bailout Techniques"

Victim Removal
Proper C-Spine Protocol

Rescue Class had been anticipated for a very long time by the CHSFA Recruits.

This 24 hour class was Physical and Fun!
Many Thanks to our Partner Agency - Concord Fire and Life Safety
Chief of Training Roger Cline for getting the Car for us to Cut
Field Training Officer - BC Lee Readling
Firefighter Josh Kelly for bringing and demonstrating his Bailout Prop
Rescue 3 - A Shift
Engine 7 - A Shift
CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF OUR RESCUE CLASS PHOTOS

Country Meats Fundraising for the CHS Fire Academy

Click the logo to go to the Country Meats Page
Click the Poster for all of the Country Meats Flavors

The Concord High School Fire Academy is Fundraising again in order to be able to send 9 of our Recruits to the Skills USA NC State Leadership and Skills Conference. Our Goal is to place 5 State winners on the Stage and take 1st Place through 5th place.

We also are trying to raise enough funds to purchase new Honor Guard Equipment and Awards for our Graduating Seniors.

Please help support our recruits by purchasing Country Meats products.
We sell these all year long.

Thanks for your Support!

GIGa Grant Presentation - Raleigh, NC

The Certificate
Presentation of Certificates

The Presenters

Click the Logo to find out more about GIGa

On January 27th 2012 Chief Barlow traveled to the Local Government Federal Credit Union in Raleigh to present how we save local government with the High School Fire Academy concept. There were 8 other presenters and all others were from local Governments. Ours was the only one that represented local government but was presented by a LEA (Local Educational Administrative Unit - Cabarrus County Schools.)
Chief Barlow was accompanied by Mrs. Lisa Conger, Mrs. Carla Black, Mr. Jerry Hathcock, and Deputy Chief Ray Allen of Concord Fire and Life Safety - our Partner Agency.

NC Local Governments and K-12 School Districts (LEA's) can apply and submit quarterly for GIGa Awards. All quarterly applicants are elligible for annual awards $10,000 (one award) or $2,500 (2 awards).

CLICK HERE TO APPLY ONLINE

Graduate Recruit Tabittha Beck Completes her Firefighter I,II Certification

The culmination of more than 400 hours of Training
Just a little bit warm
Most brand new helmets don't look like this
Brand new Gear got a bit warm as well

Former student Assistant Chief Tabittha Beck and Graduate of the Concord High School Fire Academy completed her Firefighter I,II State Certification in late December of 2011 and just received her Certificates in the mail on Friday February 24, 2012. She completed her certifications with a Live Burn in December and another Live Structure Burn several weeks ago. Tabbi is the second recruit from our Fire Academy to complete her state certifications through the Concord High School Fire Academy and the Community College.
She completed 14 of her 21 classes through the CHS Fire Academy.

Tabbi is one that truly loves the experiences she has gleaned from the Concord High School Fire Academy and continues to do the same with all of her classes through the Fire Department and in her Fire Protection Technology class at Rowan Cabarrus Community College. Tabbi is currently taking her Emergency Medical Technician class and is looking forward to a lot more training as she continues on her journey toward a full time career in the Fire Service.

During her most recent Live Burn Training Tabbi hung out with the Live Burn Instructor and assisted in building the fires for the Hose Teams to extinguish. Tabbi's brand new Turnout Gear suffered a bit of Heat Damage but she was glad to finally get the house really "HOT" so that she could make the last run on it before letting it go.

Congratulations and Welcome to the Brotherhood - Little Sister!
Chief Barlow

Tabbi is a member of the Mt. Mitchell Volunteer Fire Department
serving both Rowan and Cabarrus Counties.

Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Melton take a ride on the Black Widow

The sucessful completion of the Ride
These fine Teachers have worked as hard as Zack

All suited up and ready to go.

On Friday February 24, 2012 Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Melton took a ride on the Black Widow to celebrate a personal accomplishment of one of the CHS Fire Academy Recruits - Mr. Zack McClure. Both Teachers had been asking for a ride and this was just the right time to grant helpful teachers their wish.
A good time was had by all.

Greensboro Fire Department Recruiter visits the CHSFA

Captain Kelly Giles - Recruiter 'The Options are Yours - You just have to want them badly enough."

On Wednesday February 22, 2012 Captain Kelly Giles of the Greensboro Fire Department came to the Concord High School Fire Academy Fire Science III class to check out the program and share what was required to become a Firefighter with the City of Greensboro. Captain Giles was impressed and invited the class to visit the Training grounds in Greensboro and experience first hand what it takes to complete the Firefighter Combat Challenge and to sharpen our Recruits Skills with Interviews. We need to take advantage of this offer and will try to schedule it in the near future.
Click the Patch to visit the
City of Greensboro, NC
Fire Department
Website

Search Teams Follow the Hose line looking for victims

Whoops! Might have Missed Something?
Searching the Landing
I found HooRah!
Look What We Found!
Going down the stairs quickly - Remember the stairs can be like a chimney.

Intro to Public Safety Battalion 4 Crews got a taste of what Searching for Victims on a Hose Line is like on February 23 and 24 as well as the experience of following lines up and down stairs. The exercise started with simple searches and following the line and rapidly advanced to extrication of live victims. Facemasks were blacked out.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF THE PHOTOS

Toxic Teamwork - Pallet Races to Advance the Hose Line

Working out Strategy
The Race is On
Crossing the Finish Line
On February 17th the Introduction to Public Safety class learned all about Teamwork and Crew Integrity as they advanced Hose Lines and stayed on their Pallet Rafts as they advanced the hose. Each time a Pallet was moved forward, the SCBA had to be passed to another recruit from the Company in numeric order. The Crew completing the distance in the shortest time had bragging rights and competed in the semi finals and finally we had two final heats to determine the winner.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF THE PHOTOS