A Long Beach Fire Department staff member announced the fourth annual Darren Rocket Youth Cadet Program graduation at the Captain David Rosa training facility, where high school students completed basic fire-ground skills training and were encouraged to consider careers in the fire service.
The program, described by the staff member as now serving students in grades 9 through 12 from the region, brings participants to the training facility for hands-on instruction in basic fire-ground operations. “This program allows them to build self confidence, and it becomes an attainable career in the fire service. They get to actually say, wait, maybe I will consider this after college,” the staff member said.
A participant who identified as a cadet said the appeal of firefighting is serving others: “Ever since I was little, I’ve always wanted to be a firefighter … you’re helping a lot of people, and I feel like that’s a good way of me serving my community.” The staff member said the sessions run in the morning, with participants on site from about 8 a.m. to noon for roughly three and a half hours of activities.
Organizers said the program is run annually; the staff member called this the “fourth annual” graduation while also saying the program “started 5 years ago,” an inconsistency noted by program staff in the remarks. The staff member provided timing for the next cohort: it is expected to begin in January or February, run for about 10 months, and conclude before search-and-rescue interviews held around October. Interested students and families were given an email contact: joinlbfd@longbeach.gov.
The remarks used two different names for the training location in the transcript. The announcement identified the site as the “Captain David Rosa training facility” and later referred to the “David Rotey Regional Training Center.” The article uses the facility name as stated in the announcement and records the inconsistency in the transcript; no external verification of the facility name was available in the remarks.
Program organizers did not specify the number of participants at the graduation, exact dates for the next cohort, or the selection criteria used to place students into the program. These details were not provided in the recorded remarks.