Keating Fire Chief Teaches Students Hands-On Firefighting Skills at Elementary School

Keating Rural Fire Chief Buzz Harper traded the firehouse for a classroom on March 19, bringing live firefighting equipment to Keating Elementary School for a hands-on fire safety lesson that put students directly in the action.

Students learned how to run the water pump, operate the nozzle, and practice wetting bark chips during Harper's visit, giving the small school's kids experience with the kind of equipment their local volunteer department relies on in real emergencies.

The school reported that students learned to run the water pump, the nozzle, and wet the bark chips, and that they enjoyed their time helping Chief Harper as well as learning so much.

Keating Rural Fire Protection District is a rural volunteer fire department located outside Baker City. Harper is no stranger to high-stakes fire response: in May 2024, he served as incident commander during the first hour of firefighting at Baker City's historic Central Building, which he described as "gutted" after a severe fire.

Keating Elementary is a public school with 28 students in grades K through 6, making Harper's visit an unusually intimate experience where virtually every student in the building had a chance to get their hands on the equipment.

Keating Elementary partners with local businesses, clubs, and organizations to give students the best learning opportunities possible, and fire safety instruction from the local fire department has been a recurring part of that effort. Harper's March 19 visit continued that tradition with a more practical, equipment-focused approach than a standard classroom presentation.

For a small rural community where the volunteer fire district is both neighbor and first responder, the lesson carries weight beyond fire prevention basics. Students in Keating grow up in an area where wildfire is a seasonal reality, and knowing how a pump and nozzle actually work is knowledge that stays with them well past the school day.