The Eldridge Volunteer Fire Company Inc. hosts and supports the North Scott Fire Explorer Post 9343. The explorer program consists of young men and women, ages 14-21 who are interested in getting into the fire service and learning more about firefighting and EMS.
We currently host 4 fire explorers at our department. The program allows these young men and women to attend fire trainings, meetings and even respond to calls. For safety reasons they are limited in the skills they can perform on emergency calls and must be accompanied by full time seasoned firefighters. The Explorer Post has 2 dedicated trainings per month, one of which is a joint training with Bettendorf Fire Rescue Department's Cadet Post, in addition to trainings with their host departments.
The program is designed to teach these young adults about the fire and emergency services, while gaining experience in the field. The goal of the program is to spark interest and bring up the next generation of firefighters, EMTs, and nurses, as well as teaching them camaraderie and working as a team. Our post has explorers all throughout the Scott County's volunteer fire departments.
The program has already shown success since being implemented. From our department, we’ve had one fire explorer go on to be hired at a full time paid department in Iowa, one has joined our department as a member, and another has gone on to Nursing training at Northern Illinois University.
If you have a student interested please contact us for more information, or stop by one of our trainings on the first and third Tuesdays of every month.