Oct. 23--JAY -- Seventeen-year-old Josh Daigle is looking forward to working with firefighters in Nicaragua.
Daigle is a senior at Spruce Mountain High School in Jay and a student in the firefighting program at Foster Career and Technical Education Center in Farmington.
He is going on a mission trip organized by Laurie Hiscock, teacher of the certified nursing assistant program at the center, and other students and adults from the area.
Daigle is certified in Firefighter I and II, and hazardous material training programs, among others. He has also been a member of the Jay Fire Rescue Department for about 18 months.
The group leaves on the 11-day trip in late October.
"I'm going to be working with the fire department there and doing training," Daigle said, and working with their first responders and Med-Care Ambulance responders from Mexico.
After training is done during the day, they will go to the hospital to assist there with training on automated external defibrillators, Daigle said.
Mainers will train their Nicaraguan counterparts on fire safety procedures and other techniques used in the United States, and Maine residents will learn how Nicaragua residents accomplish their firefighting and first responder tasks.
"This will be my first time going to Nicaragua with the CNA program," Daigle said. He has been out of the country several times but never to Nicaragua.
He said he is looking forward to "getting that experience of the country in a third-world country and the opportunity to teach techniques and strategies."
Though the countries are different, members are still motivated to try to accomplish the same objectives, he said. It is just a completely different version of how people interpret fire safety and first responder works, he said.
"I love everything about (fire service). It's got something to do with adrenaline and the opportunity to help people. It's hard to describe but I just love it," Daigle said.
His plan is to attend Southern Maine Community College and study fire science after graduation. His goal is to become a full-time firefighter.
Firefighting is a demanding and challenging profession, he said.
"We get to do stuff that not many people get to do and it is always a different situation," he said. "You never know what you could encounter."
Copyright 2013 - Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine
