A Trainee'S Challenge at Arizona Wildfire and Incident Management Acad
Incident: Az Wildfire Incident Management Academy Wildfire
Released: 3/17/2010
For 23 year old Medical Unit Leader (MEDL) trainee Ashton Lynch, speaking in front of the large crowd at morning briefing was on the top of her to do list. Hundreds of fellow firefighters watched her accomplish this goal on Monday as Ashton, a fourth year FFT1 from Chandler Arizona, walked out on stage, took the microphone and spoke.
Ashton is a nationally certified EMT-Basic who has been working on Pima's Type II hand crew as a squad boss. She is one of the many trainees attending the Academy who signed up in order to get a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities of her position. Ashton took the MEDL class at last year's Academy and like many firefighters was unable to get a trainee assignment during the relatively quiet 2009 fire season. A lack of fire assignments is not the only reason Ashton is here as a trainee. There are a lot of people who want to be a MEDL so it is hard to get out with a team. "I wanted to get more signatures in my task book and this is the best way." Ashton is making the most of this week by taking the S-211 pumps class.
