Matthew Lantz always wanted to be a firefighter. At 15, he started volunteering with the Timberville Volunteer Fire Department and plans to work for Rockingham County full-time when he graduates high school early and turns 18 this December.
Getting that job will likely be easier because Lantz is already a certified EMT and firefighter, in part thanks to a program he had access to in high school.
Lantz comes from a family of first responders. His stepdad is an assistant fire chief, his mom is an EMT and his dad is a medic. Fire and rescue is something he’s deeply passionate about, he said.
But folks like Lantz are becoming harder to find. Rural fire and rescue squads across Virginia face a growing challenge: finding enough qualified people to answer emergency calls.
Departments are competing for a shrinking pool of applicants or willing volunteers, while veteran firefighters and emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, retire or burn out — all as medical calls increase.
Cash-strapped rural communities often lack the funds to offer recruitment bonuses or expanded training programs, or the staff for dedicated public awareness campaigns that wealthier communities can afford
Officials in Rockbridge County decided to test a different recruitment strategy: introduce students, like Lantz, to emergency services while they are still in high school.
As part of Rockbridge County High School’s Career and Technical Education programs, students can earn EMT and firefighting certifications before graduation, creating a potential pipeline into local emergency services careers.
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Fire departments across our region are the first line of defense during emergencies for many communities, but they continue to grapple with declining volunteerism, inadequate resources and funding, and the changing nature of their work.
Cardinal News is amplifying potential solutions to these problems in a months-long project; check out our project page here to follow along.
“We want to kind of make it the farm team,” said Shane Watts, training lieutenant for Rockbridge County Fire-Rescue and Emergency Management and the program’s lead instructor. “Like in baseball, you’ve got your farm team where you’re trying to train them up and get them ready to come to the big leagues.”
The EMT program launched in 2019, and the firefighting course was first offered last fall, so it’s too soon to assess if it will solve workforce shortages.
But local leaders say it is showing signs of success, with more than two-thirds of students passing the rigorous program each year and some graduates going on to work for local emergency services agencies.
“Our thought is that it will grow and that we can do two things: One, cultivate folks to volunteer in their community, because we depend on volunteers heavily here in Rockbridge County, but also, if someone wants to be able to do this as a career, that we can provide those tools in school,” said Nathan Ramsey, fire-rescue chief for Rockbridge County Fire-Rescue and Emergency Management.
“Offering these types of training in the school, while they’re in high school, while they’re young, and [having] someone graduate as an EMT and firefighter in our eyes is very beneficial.”
Creating pathways for first responders
Rockbridge’s programs are housed in the county’s newly renovated career and technical center, the Rockbridge Innovation Center.
The center reopened in January 2025, and with the new facilities came new course options. Students from Rockbridge County and Lexington have enrolled in the EMT program since 2019.
Its EMT and firefighting programs are based on programs at Massanutten Technical Center in Harrisonburg, where Lantz, now a rising senior, earned his firefighting certifications.
Enrollment in the program has steadily increased, as well as the caliber of students.
More than 20 students signed up for EMT training for the coming school year, prompting the school to split them into two sections next year.
Watts intentionally limits class sizes because of the hands-on nature of the training.
“If you start getting a class with 30 people, you don’t get that real connection with the students,” he said.
The firefighting program is also evolving. It was originally structured as a three-period course, but some students struggled to fit it into a seven-period schedule. This fall, it will shift to a two-year format to allow students to earn both Firefighter I and Firefighter II certifications while making scheduling easier for them.
The courses offer the same training adults take and align with National EMS and firefighting standards. Firefighting students must be 16 when the course begins. They train with the same protective gear used by professional firefighters; learn skills like fire suppression, rescue operations and survival; and participate in live exercises such as using a mobile fire simulator.
Early exposure to fire and rescue services is one recruitment strategy many departments across the state are investing in, said Wes Melson, a training coordinator for the Fredericksburg Rescue Squad and lead instructor for the Virginia Association of First Responders, which supports fire-rescue departments.
“We often hear that it’s either [recruits] had to call 911 and they had an impact in their life, or they had a family member that was involved in emergency services, and so if you’ve never had that exposure, maybe you just don’t recognize that [it’s] a viable career opportunity,” Melson said.
Nearly all of Virginia’s volunteer departments report that their ranks have declined since 2020, and Virginia is not alone in its shortages of firefighters. Across the country, volunteer fire services are losing thousands of volunteers a year, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
The association attributes sharp declines to economic uncertainty that makes it harder to take on unpaid work, baby boomer volunteers retiring en masse and younger generations failing to fill the gap left behind.
By preparing students as potential future responders, Watt hopes they will join the department after graduation.
A tool for recruitment
The clearest evidence of the program’s effectiveness may be its certification outcomes.
Nationally, high school first responder programs often have low certification pass rates — around 20%. The overall pass rate for first-time takers of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians certification test is about 65% to 75%, but that consists of graduates of college and adult programs.
The training is hard, even for adults, and high school students are often juggling many academic demands.
In Rockbridge County, Watts said his EMT students have achieved a pass rate of more than 70%.
Over the past three years, the program has produced 20 certified EMTs, and it’s beginning to feed directly into local agencies.
This year, Rockbridge County hired two former students, one full-time and one part-time.
One graduate completed both firefighting and EMT training before being hired as a fully certified provider, Watts said.
A few students have also gone on to volunteer for local squads, Ramsey said.
While those numbers are modest, Watts and Ramsey are both hopeful that interest will grow and eventually the model can help address local staffing needs.
“I think we’re going to see more and more students each year,” Watts said.
Massanutten Technical Center’s programs, which Rockbridge’s are based on, launched in 2007.
This year, 15 Massanutten students qualified for the state certification test, and all of them passed, said Lt. Glenn Jackson, the instructor for the center’s fire and rescue program. Two of those students were immediately hired by the Rockingham County Fire and Rescue Department.
Lantz plans to graduate this fall and go to work for Rockingham County, too. While taking firefighting courses at MTC during the school day, he took free EMT certification classes at night as a volunteer, and is certified in both. He’ll start out making between $45,000 to $55,000 right out of high school — and he’ll be doing something he loves.
“It’s something I have a deep passion for. I’ve seen my basically entire family go into, and the experiences they’ve had, and I feel it’s something that I can really dedicate myself to,” Lantz said.
“I feel like I’m making a difference. I feel like I’m helping people, because you know when they call us, it’s usually the worst day of their lives. So, it’s our job as fire and rescue to help mitigate that and to help make that day a little bit better.”
Why students are succeeding
One factor behind the Rockbridge program’s success may be who enrolls, Watts said.
When the program launched, the school division’s goal was to fill classes, but sometimes students weren’t the right fit, he said. They didn’t always understand the commitment required or the rigor of the program.
But as an employee of the fire department, not the school system, he has a lot of latitude to teach how he wants, within parameters set by state standards. He communicates with school counselors and advisors about which students would actually be a good fit.
Since taking over as lead instructor in 2023, Watts has established expectations related to attendance, behavior and academic performance to ensure that students understand the commitment from the get-go.
The EMT course is a dual-enrollment class, which requires students to meet minimum academic standards but also allows them to earn transferable college credits.
As a result, many participants arrive highly motivated.
“The kids want to be there,” Watts said.
Many students enter the program hoping to pursue careers in nursing, medicine or other healthcare professions rather than emergency response. For them, EMT certification serves as a resume-builder and provides real-world patient care experience before college.
Watts has seen graduates move on to nursing programs, physician assistant programs and medical school tracks, but some have discovered an interest in emergency services they had never previously considered.
“A lot of the students I get have no idea about fire and rescue,” he said. “They come in and learn, ‘Hey, man, the EMT stuff is pretty cool.'”
Challenges remain
Rockbridge County isn’t the only community offering EMT and firefighting courses to high schoolers. Fairfax County, Newport News, Virginia Beach and Stafford County schools also offer firefighting programs, and this fall, Valley Career and Technical Center in Augusta County is launching its own firefighting program for high schoolers.
EMT I and II courses are available in 85 high schools in Virginia, as well as at community colleges and universities. But according to research conducted at the Mason Health Workforce Center at George Mason University, Virginia needs 455 emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, to catch up with vacancies, and over 600 more annually to keep up with attrition.
High school and college programs provided only about 350 candidates for EMT positions during the 2024-25 school year, which researchers say is not enough to support and maintain the state’s annual needs.
In recent years, Virginia has placed a broader emphasis on career and technical education courses and is encouraging school divisions to expand opportunities for students to earn workforce certifications while in high school.
But replicating these programs can be challenging for some schools and communities — and the programs don’t always lead to local recruits.
Massanutten’s program, for instance, encourages students to volunteer with their local fire department or rescue squad, but doesn’t require it.
Many Rockbridge students who earn their certification still move away to attend college and choose careers in healthcare rather than firefighting or emergency services after graduation. Watts believes exposure in any way to the field is beneficial and gives young people experiences they take with them, no matter where they go.
While EMT participation continues to grow, interest in firefighting has lagged. Some students might be hesitant about the physical demands and risks associated with firefighting, Watts reflected. Only five students enrolled in the first year of the program.
The cost of the program presents another challenge, especially for other school divisions that might want to replicate it.
Launching the programs required significant investment. Through donations and school support, approximately $200,000 was spent to equip classrooms and purchase training equipment.
Firefighting gear alone costs about $4,000 to $5,000 per student, though the gear is reusable for up to 10 years. In Massanutten last year, the school board spent $50,000 alone on new gear for students in its program, Jackson said.
Rockbridge County Public Schools provides the classroom space, but the local department funds Watts’ salary.
He also still runs calls sometimes and trains adult recruits in the evening. Watts hopes to continue teaching for the foreseeable future, but it is a full-time position that the local department has to absorb.
The model also depends heavily on collaboration between schools and local emergency services agencies.
“If you are not a school division that works with the fire department, your program’s probably not going to work out,” Watts said.
He also believes the type of instructor matters. Models where the instructor is a member of the local department allow easier connections between the schools and local agencies, which is important when students rely on local agencies for ride-along experiences and exposure to real-world situations.
Overall, Watts believes in the model and hopes the program continues to grow.
His dream is for full classes, certification pass rates above 90% and more than half of his graduates entering emergency services careers.
Exposing students while they’re still in high school may help other communities cultivate talent and interest locally, whether for future volunteers or career first responders.
Watts himself is an example of homegrown talent. A Rockbridge County native, he joined a rescue squad as a teenager, earned his EMT certification and has spent his career in emergency services.
He’s worked as a paramedic, a flight paramedic and now, as an educator. He hopes some of his students will follow a similar path.
“We don’t want our students leaving,” he said. “If we can grow them here and make them stay here — that’s our community.”
