When you need them most, whether it’s in an emergency or not, they’re there. They’re there for when your grandfather falls on his hip, when there’s a brush fire on the side of the road, or when you just need information. Their purpose is to defend our community, save lives, and save you.
The level of emotional and physical commitment required of first responders and those on the front lines is astounding. It takes a certain type of person to have courage and bravery like that, and at CWCTC, there’s a class full of these individuals called Protective Services. For the past 23 years, Michael Dortenzo has been teaching high school students Law Enforcement, Firefighting, EMT basics. He focuses on teaching young adults how to save lives once they are in the real world. These students work hours beyond days to better themselves.
Protective Services is a program offered to all Central Westmoreland Career and Technology Center students, including eight Hempfield Area students, Emma Augustine, Gradiegh King, Aubree Nelson, Keyaria Stoffer , Savanna Compton, Aiden Mcvicker, Dominick Cassidy, Jadin Richards, and Heidi Koehl. Protective Services is a three year course that includes Law Enforcement Training, Firefighting, and EMT. Firefighter 1 is the longest training that is applied, because it’s three months at the end of the first year of the program, and the three beginning months of the second year. This training includes modules for firefighter training. This verifies the student’s ability to extinguish exterior and interior class A fires. While completing these modules for their Firefighter 1 Exam on May 16, 2025, these students also complete their Live Fires at PSTC.
On November 1st, the students went to PSTC and experienced their wet and dry lines, which doesn’t include Live Fire, but includes hose dragging and Fire Fighter 1 practice skills. The students packed their bags with all of their gear, filled their air cylinders, and collected all of their gear to make sure none of it was outdated the day before. On the day of the event, there were five Live Fires on the first division, a RIT team, backup team, a search team for the second division, and a rehab and vital station.
On the fourth fire, Aiden McVicker was first on the nozzle and made the first knock on the fire. His main concern was heat excursion as the building continued to build heat throughout the day. McVicker explains that the burn was an amazing experience, and he would like to “do it again.”
The last fire is the hottest, as it’s the last fire of the day. Two Hempfield Area students, Dominick Cassidy and Savanna Compton were on the last burn. Compton, first on the nozzle, and Dominick Cassidy pulled the hose line into the house making an attack down. Cassidy was excited for this experience since he started working on Fire Fighter 1 last year. He said, “I started to look forward. Instead of being worried, I got more comfortable with it. Anxiety went away because I became more focused and a lot more serious as a second year, and I wanted to actually work at this.”
Simply said, not many high school students possess the skills and training necessary to perform this kind of work. In this class, each of these students has shown dedication and hard effort, which has paid off thus far and will continue in the future. At the end of the day, these students are trained to save at least one person’s life, whether they want to work in law enforcement or volunteer firefighting. Thank you to Mr. Dortenzo, Ms. Adamson, and Mr. Spencer for their years of dedication to helping children learn life-saving skills.
