Teen firefighter wins national contest

• Dylan Moore was in the first firefighting class offered by the Richmond Area Career Center.
• He placed first at the SkillsUSA national competition last week in Louisville, Ky.

The career center at Richmond High School has offered a course in fire and rescue for only one year and already has produced a national award winner.

Dylan Moore, a senior at Union Junior-Senior High School in Modoc, took the course last year and placed first in the state at a firefighting contest organized by SkillsUSA, a group that supports students preparing for careers in technical, skilled and service occupations.

As Indiana's winner, Moore went to the SkillsUSA national competition last week in Louisville, Ky.

He came in first again.

It wasn't easy. There was a mock job interview in which Moore had to present his resume. There was a written test with 150 questions about fire and rescue. Competitors had to demonstrate skills such as correctly putting on personal protective equipment in fewer than 60 seconds.

But the toughest part was the Candidate Physical Ability Test.

"It was kind of strenuous," admitted Moore.

Kind of? The test included swinging a sledge hammer against a target to demonstrate an ability to make forcible entry into a home, getting through an obstacle-filled room as quickly as possible, three minutes on a stair climber while wearing a weighted vest and dragging a 180-pound dummy 80 feet.

But Moore got through it all.

Twenty-five states sent representatives to the firefighting contest. "There are several states that don't have firefighting in their vocational programs yet," explained Gregg Moore, Dylan's father, who taught the Richmond Area Career Center course and is a firefighter with the Richmond Fire Department.

The younger Moore said his fellow competitors were tough. "It came right down to it when it came to points," he said.

His father said the state competition was decided by a fraction of a point. The official totals from nationals haven't been released yet, but Gregg Moore said, "I would expect the national to be just as close."

Dylan plans to continue in the second year of the program at RHS to be trained as an emergency medical technician. Career center director Rusty Hensley said 13 students have signed up for EMT training and 12 or 13 will do the fire and rescue course in the new school year.

RFD Chief Jerry Purcell worked with Hensley to develop the program and is excited about Dylan's win.

"I'm just very proud that the first year of this program has done so well," he said.

Staff writer Louise Ronald: (765) 973-4469 or lronald@pal-item.com. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/LouiseRonaldPI.