VIDEO: Palm Bay High School’s new firefighting academy is serious business — and not just because, as instructor Chester Bombriant quipped, “everything in that classroom could hurt you.” It’s also a college-level course, and it’s the first of its kind in Brevard County.
About 100 students are in the program. On Friday, some of them saw their new classroom for the first time along with school administrators, local firefighters and reporters.
The program will give students a head start at a well-paying career, and could help address a local shortage of firefighters, officials said. The course is designed to prepare students for the fire fighting program at Eastern Florida State, and eventually their state certifications. “They're going to be doing for the first two or three years here before they get over there,” Bombriant said.