Testing their ability to handle water rescues, missing and injured people and fires will be par for the course for 18 Kaipara young people in the national Youth in Emergency Services (YES) programme.
The five-week programme, which teaches hands-on emergency services skills, begins tomorrow at Kai Iwi Lakes, where young people aged between 16 and 18 will be trained by Surf Life Saving and NZ Police search and rescue.
The next few weekends will see them learning firefighting and using rescue tools from NZ Fire and Rural Fire/Department of Conservation, triage, basic first aid and ground-based disaster rescue from St John and NZ Red Cross.
The highlight of the programme is a combined exercise based around a mock disaster, requiring the trainees to draw on their new-found skills, judgment and teamwork.
At the conclusion of the programme, they will attend a graduation ceremony with their families, and be offered the opportunity to volunteer for two months with the emergency service of their choice.