WITH Beaudesert's emergency service cadets up and running, adult leaders Andrew Clarke and Jared Latemore gave a talk at the Chamber of Commerce meeting on Wednesday.
The 12 cadets currently taking part in the program held at Beaudesert Fire Station have been kitted out with uniforms and epaulettes.
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They will also be receiving warm winter jackets funded by YACC.
Mr Clarke said he and Mr Latemore were both locals who had pursued careers as firefighters but the program was provided by PCYC for young people interested in all emergency services including rural and auxilliary fire services, police, ambulance, SES and surf lifesaving.
"So we're giving them an insight into all those services," he said.
"We've started out with foundation skills for firefighters, which is the first thing we do as firefighters on our recruiting course."
Mr Latemore said every single cadet could now say their name in the phonetic alphabet after a session in the first week of training.
"The week after that we did knots, so everyone got a length of life rescue live, we taught them six or seven knots and gave them a challenge to go away and learn another knot before they came back," he said.
"All of them smashed it."
Mr Clarke said the cadets were learning more than basic skills.
"Last week we took them through the QFES shared values of respect, integrity, loyalty, trust and courage," he said.
"So they're all starting to think about what each one of those shared values means, they're starting to get their priorities in place already, so they're doing really well."
Mr Latemore said the youngsters had also learned how to take part in the more formal aspects of training.
"We form them up on parade at the start of training and one of them becomes duty cadet ... so at 6.30pm they have them ... come to attention, break off and all that sort of stuff. So there's a little bit of a formal side to it but it also teaches them leadership."
Mr Clarke said the training sessions were also fun
"We're doing stuff with hoses, you have to be safety oriented but we're trying to have fun, get the kids involved and get them all talking to each other," he said.
The adult leaders said the cadets would be having a session with QPS at Beaudesert Police Station on Monday.
Mr Clarke said the program had a huge waiting list, with this intake capped at 12.
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"The fire station only has a training room capable of holding 18 to 20 cadets," he said.
"A PCYC with some large training rooms would be great."
