Russellville City Schools implements another class geared towards preparing students for the future

RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - Russellville High School and Fire Department teamed up to create a class to fill positions in the fire department over the next few years.

Russellville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Heath Grimes says he is excited to kick the class off in its first official year at the high school.

”It’s a win, win, win,” Dr. Grimes said. “We’re getting college credits. We’re getting students prepared for a job to fill the gaps when some of our firefighters resign or retire. So it’s just a great course for us here on campus.”

Russellville Fire Department Chief Joe Mansell said that he used to seeing around 15-30 applicants and now he says the number of applicants has gone downhill across the nation since he became chief back in 2002.. This class is meant to lead students into that career path as soon as they graduate.

The city has noticed there has been a decline in the amount of people wanting to become firefighters over the past few years. Currently the school has six students taking the course, and they are already CPR certified only a month in. Career Tech Director Shelley Montgomery said this will benefit the students and the community.

“The students are really excited,” Montgomery said. “They’re getting a lot hands-on experience. There is a need with the fire department. They have a lot of people that are going to retire within the next few years so there will be a shortage in their department.”

Russellville Fire Chief Joe Mansell said some of his current firefighters are getting to retire in the next few years and they need to fill the ranks.

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