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



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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.

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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.
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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
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"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
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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