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EL DORADO, Kan. (KSNW) — Starting in August, Butler Community College (BCC) will be offering a 16-week Fire Academy.

Students in the Fire Academy will earn four certifications and 1/3 of the two-year degree in one semester.

“Our Fire Academy is designed to move students through the same progression as our standard one-year or two-year program,” said Zachary Lindsey, the head of Butler’s Fire Science program. “Typically, students attend maybe three days a week. Our Academy students are going to hit it hard. They’ll be working on becoming firefighters four days a week from 9 a.m. to — 4 p.m. It’s intense, and it’s meant to be.”

According to BCC, courses include Firefighter 1, Firefighter 2, Hazardous Materials, and Emergency Medical Technician Basic (EMT-B).  

Butler’s fire training facility is attached to El Dorado Fire Station 2.

In the fall of 2021, Lindsey partnered with the City of El Dorado to add a Live Fire Training Prop, a formidable, 1,100-square-foot structure made of five shipping containers stacked two stories high and can be made to emulate a two-story house fire or a basement rescue.

“Virtual training is valuable, but putting our students into controlled, live-fire environments is what I want my graduates to leave with,” said Lindsey. “That means the first time they enter a burning home at night. It won’t be the first time they’ve entered a burning structure with loss of visibility. That’s critical in my book.”

Students in the Fire Academy will experience fiery, smoky situations in a progression, beginning with elementary and moving to more difficult challenges, according to BCC.

For more information about Butler’s 16-week Fire Academy, call Angie Martin at 316-323-6150 or email her at amartin50@butlercc.edu.  

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