'I already had the spark', teenage firefighters take a step towards their dream

SUAMICO (NBC 26) — The Suamico Fire Department has four new firefighters on duty thanks to a high school training program. Meet two teens who are about to realize their dreams.

• Take a look inside a Suamico Fire Department fire truck
• Meet a female firefighter working on her diploma
• High School Student Explains Why He Dreams of Becoming a Firefighter Like His Family

(The following is a transcript of the entire broadcast report.)

Some say it’s never too late, nor too early, to follow your dreams. I’m your Suamico neighborhood reporter, Pari Apostolakos, here at Fire Station Number One, where I met two teenagers who trained to become firefighters while still in high school.

Four new firefighters are serving Suamico thanks to a partnership with Bay Port High School and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College last school year.

Rylie Dickie is one of them.

“I already had the spark, but it threw a bunch of gasoline on the fire and it all blew up,” Dickie said. “I thought, oh my God, this is so much fun.”

Today, she balances her work at the fire station with her first-year classes at NWTC.

“I was a certified firefighter at 17,” Dickie said.

But she wouldn't have it any other way.

“There’s never a dull day, there’s something new every day,” Dickie said. “Every day you leave with a smile on your face because you think, ‘Wow, I was able to help so many people today.’ You feel good when you go home.”

Connor Ness was in the firefighter class with Rylie last year. Still in high school, he's not officially part of the department yet.

“I’ve been in this department for as long as I know, since I was born,” Ness said. “Those trucks leaving the station, it’s a different feeling every time it happens.”

His grandfather and stepfather work in the department and Connor knew he always wanted to follow in their footsteps. He just didn't know he'd start so young.

“It’s something I never thought I’d be able to do at 16,” Ness said. “People like Rylie and people like me who were able to get into the fire service so early, a lot of experience [we have that we’re] “I will be able to continue later in life.”

Although the firefighter training program will no longer be taught at Bay Port moving forward, the Howard-Suamico School District says Bay Port students still participate in the firefighting course at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.