Turning out for competition
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on March 7, 2017 8:06 AM
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Daeja Hutcherson, 15, left, Michael Jones, 14, middle, Jared Barwick, 18, right, and Tyreick Hutcherson, 17, background, watch footage from a recent competition while their adviser, Capt. Julian Whitney, points out issues with their performance.
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Goldsboro Fire Department Explorer Post 1881 member Tyler Best is assisted in putting on an air tank by the group's Captain, Jared Barwick, while both are blindfolded for an exercise simulating conditions at a fire scene in the gym of the Center Street Fire Station Monday.
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Capt. Lisa Johnson of the Goldsboro Fire Department takes an active role in the development of the members of Explorer Post 1881. She not only wants to train young people to be good firefighters, she also aims to make them good citizens.
Goldsboro Fire Explorer Post 1881 recently won five awards at a competition in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, consistently locking down second and third place in five of the seven events.
The competition, named Winterfest, held February 10, 11 and 12, saw eight members of Goldsboro's 10 member explorer post go head to head with more than 40 other teams.
"All of the events simulated what you might do on a fire scene," said explorer post Capt. Jared Barwick.
Advisor Julian Whitney, a captain on the Goldsboro Fire Department, said the team trained two days per week for at least four months in preparation for the events.
Explorer post Lt. Michael Jones, 14, said the post competed in events called Hazardous Material Awareness, Z Drag, Denver Drill, Cherokee Drill and Arriving on Scene, while Whitney competed in an advisor event.
In the Z Drag event, the team simulated rescuing someone from a high angle. The Cherokee Drill is a combination of all skills the team practices, including putting on turnout gear as quickly as possible, crawling a line, dragging a body and more.
The Denver Drill required post members to practice rescuing a firefighter trapped in a building and pulling them out through a window.
Of the events the team participated in, they placed third in Hazardous Material Awareness, second in Z Drag, second in the Cherokee Drill, third in the Denver Drill and Whitney placed third in the advisor event.
Barwick said these events help him train for what he hopes to do after graduating high school -- become a firefighter.
Barwick said there was a never a moment where he simply decided to become a firefighter -- it was something he has always wanted.
"I never made a decision to become a firefighter, I've just always said I wanted to become a firefighter since I was 3," Barwick said. "My mom said I showed an interest in becoming a firefighter as early as 1."
In order to go to the competition, the group had to raise the money themselves.
Lt. Daeja Hutcherson, 15, said the post sells items at Jingle in the Park and aids the Goldsboro Police Department Explorer Post in putting on a haunted trail event, and proceeds from those two events raised the necessary $1,000 or more to pay for the competition.
When the group isn't training to compete, Hutcherson said they work on training people in the community on fire safety and teach children how to dial 911.
"We work on fire education and teaching kids how to dial 911 and teach them how to handle various situations," Hutcherson said.
Heading forward, the group is working on getting together a mission statement, getting more people into the group and raising more money to go to other competitions.
"We want to get more people involved in the explorer post," Barwick said. "We want to focus on getting new people to start at the bottom of the fire service and build their way up so they can see what it's all about."