Above: AACT high school students use a fire hose attached to a moving fire engine. Credit: Ali Dickson | KUNR.
This story was shared with permission from KUNR Public Radio. For an audio version of the story, please visit the KUNR website.
High school students from the Academy of Arts, Careers & Technology got firsthand experience in wildland fire training with the Bureau of Land Management.
Andy Quintanilla, a senior, fought the snow and wind as he crunched through gravel holding a flowing fire hose. The moment was made all the more difficult because the hose was attached to a moving fire engine. It was all part of a drill on how to use an engine to put out a wildfire.
Quintanilla was one of 40 students in this wildland fire training. Throughout the day, the students also learned how to communicate with people on the engine and how to use a pulaski – a firefighting tool with an axe on one end and a grub hoe on the other.
These demonstrations might seem like a lot for a group of high schoolers, but Quintanilla said he was not afraid of the hard work. He actually enjoyed it, leaning into the physical demands and extremes.
“I like manual labor,” Quintanilla said. “I think that’s the best thing ever. Growing up with my dad, he always told me manual labor was important. So it was like, just working for what you need is the best way to achieve your dreams and your goals and stuff.”
These trainings were taught by real-world firefighters through the BLM Palomino Fire Station north of Reno. Jennifer Diamond, BLM fire training instructor, said AACT works with BLM to offer a curriculum geared toward fire and public-safety careers. This can make a recent graduate’s resume look much more competitive.
Diamond said, “When they turn 18, they can apply as a Bureau of Land Management wildland firefighter, and right out the gate they have all the classes that we offer our first-year firefighters.”
Quintanilla plans to become a firefighter in the future. He joined the Fire Science Academy not just for the experience, but also the satisfaction.
“I think fire science is one of the best academies out there, honestly, just because the people you get to know, and the people you probably will know later on in the future.”
Even if a student doesn’t pursue a fire career, Diamond said the skills learned in this training will carry them through adulthood.
“They’re going to be homeowners and they’re going to learn about defensible space. They’re going to be either evacuated or affected by smoke at some point in their lives. Having that opportunity of teaching the tools and the education of where to get information eventually is a great avenue.”
The Fire Science Academy is held through a partnership with the BLM, AACT, Washoe County School District and the University of Nevada, Reno.
Ali Dickson is the 2025 fall intern for KUNR and the Hitchcock Project for Visualizing Science. She is a student in the master’s program at the Reynolds School of Journalism.
