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Staff writer

Sixteen-year-old Harley Lott plans to be a volunteer firefighter someday so he can give back to his community. In most circumstances, he would have to wait until he was 18 years old to make this dream a reality.

While Lott is not yet allowed to go into what firefighters call “The Red Zone,” which is the most dangerous area of a fire, he and other high school students are experiencing the hard work it takes to be a firefighter.

The East Bethel Fire Department started an Explorers post this past summer to train 15- to 21-year-olds like they would train adult recruits.

Michael Burger, 18, wanted to be in this program to learn about how to become a firefighter. He and his fellow Explorers had to locate a teddy bear in a smoke-filled training house.

They have also worked with the fire engine hoses and ladders and used fire hydrants to fill tanker trucks. The Explorers have also become acclimated to the firefighters’ protective clothing and gear that they carry on various calls.

Understanding the chain of command, incident command, when you can ride on the vehicles and how to perform duties on the scene of an incident are other important educational sessions in which they partake.

Jerry Pittman, 17, has wanted to be a firefighter since he was little, so when he met an East Bethel firefighter at St. Francis High School who was recruiting people for the program, he jumped at the opportunity.

“The possibilities are endless,” Pittman said.

Explorer posts are utilized by police and fire departments as a recruitment technique and to give those interested in working in public safety early training and a boost to their resume.

Since she joined the East Bethel Fire Department five years ago, Tammy Gimpl can recall hearing about the concept of an Explorer post.

The post needed more than willing firefighters to train the teenagers. It need money.

The funding came this past summer when the department received a $346,750 Staffing Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant from the federal government.

The grant is meant to help retain and recruit firefighters whether through the Explorer post, appreciation plaques when years of service milestones are reached, paying travel expenses and entry fees for training seminars, hiring a fire department administrative assistant and much more.

The SAFER Grant is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security program administered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Of the $346,750, $10,000 has been set aside for the Explorer post. The grant is scheduled to expire in four years, so approximately $2,500 is budgeted for each year, according to Fire Chief Mark DuCharme.

The funds help purchase personal protective gear for the Explorers participants, DuCharme said.

What the Explorers will assist with are jobs like helping haul away debris after a fire is put out, bring drinking water to firefighters who are on the scene of a fire for many hours, checking on residents in the aftermath of a bad storm, cleaning hoses and cleaning trucks.

“It’s a good way to get out there and volunteer,” said Dane Gillespie, 17.

There are three advancement levels of Explorers. The higher the level, the more responsibility they are given.

Firefighter Jamie Ostmoe said when they get to Level 2, they get a pager. A Level 3 Explorer is able to start responding to certain calls.

However, they would not be one of the main responders to a personal injury accident where a person needs to be extricated from a vehicle and they would not be in the thick of things when firefighters are up against a fire, according to DuCharme.

Ostmoe is the firefighter credited with getting this program off the ground. He has been with the East Bethel Fire Department for six years. His father Harold Ostmoe started an Explorer post in 1978 when he was a captain in the Columbia Heights Fire Department.

The Columbia Heights Fire Department has seen the benefits of this feeder program since the Explorer post started in 1978.

Capt. Dan O’Brien of the Columbia Heights Fire Department said that a couple of the original Explorers were Gary Gorman, who is now the Columbia Heights Fire Chief, and John Berg, who is the Fridley Fire Chief.

“It is good for the department because individuals can be assessed over a period of years to determine if they would be good employees for the department and they can be trained to your department’s standards and guidelines, so when they do join they already know them and are familiar with your equipment,” O’Brien wrote in an e-mail to the Anoka County Union.

East Bethel firefighter Dan Meine was an Explorer in a Wisconsin fire department. This positive experience made him want to become a firefighter.

“It’s a good recruiting tool and you learn life skills,” he said.

When East Bethel’s Explorer post commenced this summer, there were five in attendance. That number has grown to 13, according to Gimpl. Most of the Explorers live in East Bethel or in a neighboring community such as Oak Grove and Forest Lake so when they come of age, they are potential firefighters.

New Explorers can join at any time. They meet the first and third Tuesday of each month from 7 to 9 p.m. They can be involved year after year until they are 21 years old, although the department expects most to stop being involved around the age of 18, DuCharme said.

It is a round-robin schedule, so if a new participant misses something, everyone will eventually be re-trained.

There are numerous types of Explorer posts out there for almost any career, all which fall under the umbrella of the Boy Scouts of America and locally overseen by the Northern Star Council.

Several examples of Explorer posts are fire, law enforcement, aviation, television production, biomedical engineering, computer engineering, veterinary science and much more, according to Jenny Hedal, East Exploring Executive Director for the Northern Star Council.

For more information about the East Bethel Fire Department’s Explorer post, call DuCharme at 612-328-6833 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Eric Hagen is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it