By Jerome Burdi
Sun-Sentinel
Copyright 2007 Sun-Sentinel Company
All Rights Reserved
BOCA RATON, La. — Some might say the Voughts are starting a family business.
Lake Worth Fire-Rescue firefighter Ada Vought is proud of her job. Her children, Boca Raton Fire-Rescue Explorers, are proud of what they are becoming.
Jon Vought, 19, an emergency medical technician, or EMT, for a private ambulance service, is a licensed state firefighter and chief of the fire-rescue Explorer post. His sister, Vanessa, 20, is a restaurant server who also has an EMT license. They joined eight other of the city’s Explorers in the 2007 National Explorer Conference and Competition on June 18-22 at the Illinois Fire College at the University of Illinois.
The team won first place in spinal immobilization and movement, second place in the drill competition and second place in the ladder raise. The competition brought 600 Explorers from 62 posts as far away as Anchorage, Alaska, according to city fire-rescue.
In 2005, the Boca Raton Fire Explorers No. 315 won three trophies at the bi-annual national competition at Texas A&M University.
Many Explorers go on to be firefighters. The Voughts said they hope to be like their mother.
“I wanted to be a firefighter for a long time,” Jon Vought said. “I saw her [training] videos, and that made up my mind.”
The Explorers’ program trains people ages 14-21 in basic first aid, CPR, firefighter orientation and fire department rules. They learn to make knots, to move quickly with a hose and how to act in a fire.
The city has trained more than 50 Explorers since the program began in 2004. Sometimes they join for camaraderie, then find the love of the job, Boca Raton Fire-Rescue spokesman Frank Correggio said. But many become Explorers to learn about the life of a firefighter.
Correggio said the program “mirrors” the fire academy.
“It makes it a lot easier,” Ada Vought said. “They know what to expect.”
Jon Vought, one of the original Boca Raton Fire-Rescue Explorers, said the experience was helpful, but there is no training ground to get ready for the heat. In the academy, Vought’s facemask melted in the 500-degree training ground of flames, a common occurrence during fires. He was not injured.
Delray Beach Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Russ Accardi said his time as an Explorer in Sunrise was his ticket to success. “It helped me stay on the right track and to have goals,” he said. “It allowed me to have an insight into what it was all about.”
Delray Beach has an Explorer unit, but it did not compete in the national competition this year.
Jon Vought, whose ambulance company is based in Lake Worth, often runs into his mom on the job. The day’s events usually make for good family banter over dinner.
“It teaches them responsibility and not to be so egotistical,” Ada Vought said. “I have never heard anyone of them say ‘I.’ They say ‘we.’ ”