The Westhampton Beach Fire Department Juniors program was founded in March of 2004. Currently the membership has 50 juniors ages 12-18. They meet twice a month on Wednesdays, followed by training. The training program is geared to follow the Firefighter 1 program taught by the Suffolk County Fire Academy and educational courses in Fire Engineering.

The goal of the Junior Program is not only to teach firematics and community service but to also teach about volunteerism, teamwork, leadership, life skills and fire department tradition.

People always ask what the Juniors learn from the program:

• We try to teach the Juniors not to quit when they get tired.
• We try to teach the Juniors to be disciplined, focused and dedicated.
• We try to teach the Juniors to care for their bodies and their wellbeing.
• We try to teach the Juniors to work with others, be good teammates, say little when you win and say less when you win; be humble.
• We try to teach the Juniors to deal with disappointment when things don’t go their way.
• We try to teach the Juniors to make and accomplish goals.
• We try to teach the Juniors to respect not only themselves, but everybody.
• We try to teach the Juniors that it takes a lot of hard work to be successful, it does not happen overnight.
• We try to teach the Juniors to be proud of small achievements and work toward longer goals.
• We try to give the Juniors the opportunity to make lifelong friends and create memories.
• We try to teach the Juniors situational awareness of their surroundings.
• We try to teach the Juniors the importance of time management and balancing what is important, with family being first.
• We try to teach the Juniors to always communicate, especially with their parents and family.
• We try to teach the Juniors to develop attitudes that will serve them well during their lives and give them the opportunity to give back to others.

From what we have seen, we believe the Juniors program accomplishes the above.