High school students from across the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District wrap up a day of training at Nikiski Fire Station. The group is part of the pilot program, basic firefighter academy, which included a week of training and culminates in the students becoming licensed by the state. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

High school students from across the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District wrap up a day of training at Nikiski Fire Station. The group is part of the pilot program, basic firefighter academy, which included a week of training and culminates in the students becoming licensed by the state. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Pilot program sparks passion

Joshua Diaz was thrown out of a window and excited about it.

The Kenai Central High School senior is the smallest of 10 district students participating in Nikiski Fire Station No. 2’s basic firefighter academy, which means he’s the one going out the window.

“We were practicing ladders and I’m tiny so I got thrown out the window from the fire,” Diaz explained. “We had learned knots before that, lots of them, and a lot of different smoke drills and rope rapelling. It’s all so exciting and fun and interesting”

The weeklong academy is a first for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, who was able to send the ten students to Nikiski to earn their state certifications through grants, according to Stephen Robertson, an adjunct professor with Kenai Peninsula College and engineer firefighter in Nikiski.

“This is the pilot program for the district,” Roberston said. “It’s your first step into firefighting, to get someone certified and be able to have that base knowledge of it.”

The station has offered similar programs in the past, through EXCEL Alaska for Western Alaska students, but this is the first time Kenai Peninsula students had the opportunity to earn their certifications in the local station.

“The cool part for us is that can get them hooked now,” Robertson said. “If they get hooked on it young, then they have a long, healthy career ahead of them and it starts to replace the older guys.”

The academy met five days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the student’s spring break and, while most students usually tend to avoid tests over the holidays, the week culminates in a written exam.

“I’m not worried about the test,” Randee Johnson of Kenai Central High School said. “We’re ready for it. We’ve been studying for it all week.”

Each student that passes the test will leave the academy with a state certification. Those under 18-years-old will become certified apprentices and those over 18 become certified basic firefighters. From there, students can move on to a 12-credit course at Kenai Peninsula College to continue their firefighting training.

“The week’s gone really well,” Robertson said. “We have ten kids and they’re all eager to learn, listening really well and paying attention. They seem to be having fun. Today we cut up two cars, did some live fire. They felt the heat a little bit.”

Each of the students, who came from across the Central Peninsula and Homer, expressed interest in continuing their studies.

“It’s a rewarding profession,” Audrey Hopper of Soldotna High School said. “It’d be nice to see myself in this, never really in an office and doing something so different, helping people.”

The response from the program has been so positive that the college and school district are planning to continue their collaboration with more programs, such as emergency trauma technology, according to Chair of Fire and EMS at Kenai Peninsula College Paul Perry.

Perry was fielding questions from the students about next steps in between training sessions, guiding them towards the right classes or, if he was unsure, the right person to ask.

“Don’t forget to say that ‘I truly believe this is the next generation of great firefighters,’” Braedon Stigall of Soldotna High School called out to Perry as he was walking towards ladder training.

“The reality is, he’s not far off,” Perry said.

Reach Kat Sorensen at kat.sorensen@peninsulaclarion.com

Joshua Diaz, a Kenai Central High School senior, leads his fellow students in a trianing exercise during Thursday’s basic firefighting academy at Nikiski Fire Station. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Joshua Diaz, a Kenai Central High School senior, leads his fellow students in a trianing exercise during Thursday’s basic firefighting academy at Nikiski Fire Station. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Randee Johnson, a senior at Kenai Central High School, participates in firefighter training at Nikiski Fire Station in Nikiski on Thursday. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Randee Johnson, a senior at Kenai Central High School, participates in firefighter training at Nikiski Fire Station in Nikiski on Thursday. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

More in News

A map of the Johnson Tract Mine exploration project. Photo courtesy of the Center for Biological Diversity
Inletkeeper, partners file lawsuit against Cook Inlet gold mine

The Johnson Tract Mine is located on CIRI-owned lands inside Lake Clark National Park.

A sockeye salmon is carried from the waters of Cook Inlet on North Kenai Beach in Kenai, Alaska, during the first day of the Kenai River personal use dipnet fishery on Thursday, July 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai River dipnet fishery open 24 hours beginning Friday night

Per fish counts available from the department, 471,000 sockeye have been counted so far this year — with 108,000 counted on Wednesday alone.

Attorneys Eric Derleth and Dan Strigle speak to Superior Court Judge Kelly Lawson during the opening arguments of State of Alaska v. Nathan Erfurth at the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Opening arguments offered in Erfurth trial

The trial is set to continue for around two weeks, into early August.

Evacuees in Seward, Alaska, walk along Adams Street following a tsunami warning on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Tsunami warning canceled following 7.3 earthquake near Sand Point

An all clear was issued for Kachemak Bay communities at 1:48 p.m. by the Kenai Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Management.

The Ninilchik River on May 18, 2019, in Ninilchik, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Ninilchik River to remain closed to king salmon fishing

It was an “error in regulation” that would have opened the Ninilchik River to king salmon fishing on Wednesday.

A table used by parties to a case sits empty in Courtroom 4 of the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death

Lawana Barker was sentenced for her role in the 2023 death of Michael Rodgers.

Alaska State Troopers logo.
Seward resident arrested after Monday night police pursuit

Troopers say she led them on a high-speed chase on Kalifornsky Beach Road for around 7 miles.

Concert-goers listen to The Discopians at Concert on the Lawn on Saturday, July 12, 2025, at Karen Hornaday Park in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
‘Dancing at the end of the world’

KBBI AM 890 hosted their annual Concert on the Lawn Saturday.

Most Read