Last month Children’s Dream Adventures co-hosted our first wildland fire academy for foster youth and youth who have lost a parent, sibling, or other primary caregiver with the Florida Forest Service Withlacoochee Training Center.

The students stayed on-site for the week-long academy which enabled them to earn the certifications necessary for entry level employment as a wildland firefighter with state and federal agencies.

This academy would not have been possible without all of the help and hard work of the following Florida Forest Service Employees and CDA Volunteers!!!

Fire Training Officer – George E. Risko Jr

Instructor Cadre –

Keith Holmes – OSC/Lead

Chris Farley

Dave Hummel

Josh Mousel

Thomas Bastien

Nate Faucett

Tym Gennaro

Linda Perez

Overhead Medical/PIO –

Julie Allen

Mike Harvey

Brad Weller

Todd Chlanda

FFS Aviation Team

Leadership at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services & the Florida Forest Service

Staff at the Florida Forest Service Withlacoochee Training Center

CDA Volunteers – Graham Peterson, Max O’Neil, and Lucian Flanagan-Burt

Thank You – WFSU/TheFloridaChannel.org, for covering the academy!

Children’s Dream Adventures would also like to thank everyone who donated to help fund the academy!

CDA and some of the instructors will also be assisting interested graduates with the application process for the upcoming fire season.

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