WASHINGTON TWP — The North Washington Volunteer Fire Department is a small department that accomplishes mighty things, according to Chief Bruce Confer.

With 18 active firefighters, the department is small, but it has a larger crew than many rural volunteer departments, he said.

The department has been able to maintain its solid number of firefighters thanks to young people joining as junior firefighters and 20-somethings who join as rookies.

A state law that went into effect Tuesday allows junior firefighters to begin the mandated training to enter a burning building to fight a fire when they turn 17, a year earlier than previous law allowed.

Act 155 of 2022, which was signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf on Nov. 3 and went into effect Jan. 3, amends the Child Labor Act to allow 17-year-old junior firefighters to begin live-burn, interior firefighter training under the supervision of a credentialed Pennsylvania State Fire Academy instructor, such as those at Butler County Community College, with the permission of their parents and fire chief.

The goal of the law is to allow junior firefighters to complete all the required training needed to enter a burning building by the time they reach 18 and to improve recruitment and training of young firefighters. The new law keeps in place the requirement for firefighters to be 18 before they can enter a burning structure.

Confer said he wrote to many state legislators representing the county to ask them to support the bill last year. His department has two junior firefighters. The older one, Carter Sutton, 16, is eager to become a full-fledged firefighter, and he has the support of his parents and fire chief.

“I’m excited,” Carter said.

Carter’s father, Traves Sutton, a 30-year department veteran, is the second assistant chief, and his mother, Jennifer Sutton, a 23-year veteran, is the accountability officer, who keeps track of the firefighters at emergency scenes.

“I will know where he is,” Jennifer said.

Since becoming a junior firefighter at age 14, Carter has completed three training modules and plans to take the interior fire module after he turns 17 in July. His parents and Confer say they will sign off as Act 155 requires.

“I’ve been into it since I was a kid,” Carter said. “I grew up around it.”

He said he would like to pursue a career fighting wildfires in either the southern or the western United States.

After he completes the interior fire training module and turns 18, he will have to pass a written and practical state test to become a Firefighter 1 to be allowed to fight a fire from inside of a burning structure.

Even then, it will be up to his parents and Confer to decide when he is ready to enter a burning building.

“We’ll start with exterior,” Travis said. “We won’t put him in a burning building at first.”

Confer agreed, saying Carter’s ascent to interior firefighting will be gradual.

They also agree that young people are needed to preserve the volunteer fire service and public safety in rural areas.

Kevin Smith, fire and hazardous materials training coordinator of BC3's public safety program, and chief of the Butler Township Volunteer Fire District, said as many as a third of the firefighters in each training class at BC3 are junior fighters.

A junior firefighter has to be 18 to begin the interior live-burn training module program, Smith said.

A minor can become a junior firefighter at age 14. At that time, they can begin taking the four required training modules to become a firefighter, he said. Those four training modules last a combined 136 hours. A junior firefighter has to be 16 years old to take the 48-hour hazardous materials operations module, and 17 to take the live-burn, interior firefighter training module.

“I think it has some positives, but some negatives too,” Smith said about the new law.

He said some people are not mature enough to enter a burning building at 18, but the law can have a positive impact if the leadership of fire departments adheres to the rules and regulations.

In training classes with open enrollment at BC3, seven to 10 of the 30 firefighters in each class are junior firefighters, he said.

“At BC3, we put through 10,000 firefighters a year,” Smith said.

Kevin Boozel, a county commissioner and firefighter for the Harrisville Volunteer Fire Company, has a similar opinion about the new law.

“I have a concern about the maturity level of people being asked to put their life out there,” he said.

He said it will be up to the leaders of fire departments and parents to ensure the junior firefighters are a good fit for the training. The safety of junior firefighters is the responsibility of fire department leaders, he said.

“There's a lot of adrenaline and excitement when you go to your first fire,” Boozel said.

State Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th, said she believes the law will help volunteer fire departments recruit and retain firefighters.

“I really think this is going to be a great tool for volunteer fire companies to recruit young people and put them into service,” Mustello said. “We are really suffering with recruitment and maintaining volunteers in the fire departments.”

She also said fire department chiefs must protect the safety of junior firefighters.