Tulsa Fire Cadet: "It's Everything You Can Dream Of"

Future firefighters are getting hands-on training with the most dangerous part of their job at the Tulsa Fire Academy grounds.

House fires, car fires, and medical emergencies are the most common calls for firefighters in Tulsa, but they train the most on the least common emergency calls involving flammable gasses.

It's a high-danger job when explosions are a risk.

"A lot of times it has to be muscle memory in the moment when we run an emergency," said Tulsa Fire Department Captain Kofi Wallace. 

26 cadets like James Foxworth are in their 4th month of training. 

“It's becoming more real that we're the actual responders now, and coming straight from college graduating into this is a big transition for myself," said Foxworth. 

Friday night, it was all about how much foam and water to use to fight petroleum-based fires like propane fires and flammable gas leaks.

"We have to have protection lines to be able to get that valve shut off as its off-gassing and flaming. So, they'll use V patterns to create sort of a safe space for the guys operating the nozzle to go ahead and shut that valve off," said Wallace.  

"Just listening to him, what he does every day, they're going to be really well-trained. So, you want them to get their butts kicked," said Foxworth’s mom Robyn.  

Friday was the first chance for family and friends to watch a live night burn.

"It's been a whirlwind. We had no idea when he graduated from OSU that he was going to do this," said Robyn.  

She couldn't be more proud he decided to trade-in the construction hard hat for a fire helmet.

"Everybody is excited. I'm scared, but yea, everybody is excited," she said. 

"It's hard, it is, but it's everything you can dream of. From my perspective, it's a humbling job, a humbling career, you get to help people every day, and you never know what the day holds," Foxworth said. 

The final seven weeks of academy will focus on EMS and testing to graduate.