Arizona Fire School accepting scholarship requests for rural firefighters

Contributed Photo: Firefighters practice an extraction during fire school. The training committee is offering $600 scholarships to rural firefighters.

$600 scholarships to be gifted to volunteer, rural area firefighters

Contributed Article

PHOENIX – For the 51st year, the Arizona Fire Training Committee will be hosting its annual fire school from Sept. 4 – 8 across Metro Phoenix to provide rural area firefighters with crucial training they may not otherwise receive. Thanks to generous donations from APS, The Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation, and others to the Arizona Firefighters Fund, the committee is now accepting scholarship requests for rural area firefighters to receive the funding needed to send attendees to the school.

Each year, nearly 1,000 firefighters take part in the annual school where rural and volunteer firefighters throughout the state go through comprehensive training with both in-class and live training to enhance skills and get the latest techniques in firefighting thanks to Metro Phoenix departments. Roughly 400 of the firefighters attending each year are on scholarships. This year, $600 scholarships will be awarded on a prioritized basis to volunteer departments, departments with less than 6 paid firefighters, and other departments that have experienced cuts to their training budgets or have specified needs.

Since 2012, more than $1 million in scholarships have been gifted to 3,500 firefighters across the state. Over 50 years of fire school, more than 150 fire departments across the southwest have benefited from the life-saving training provided at the school.

Recently, APS extended their support of the fire school with a substantial grant in support of the scholarships along with perennial donors The Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation, Youth Angels Foundation, Pioneer Title Company, Lerner and Rowe Gives Back, and others.

Departments or fire service agencies interested in Fire School registration or requesting scholarships can email Eric Kriwer at ekriwer@afma.az.gov.

“Our goal is to establish a permanent endowment to pay for 500 rural firefighters’ tuition to fire school each year,” said Eric Kriwer, Assistant Chief of Arizona Fire & Medical Authority and Executive Director of the Arizona Firefighters Fund. “We have been very fortunate to have support from businesses like APS, but there are still firefighters who need scholarships to attend the training, so we hope to gain the support of other businesses and organizations looking to make a huge impact.”