 They say, where there's smoke, there's fire. And for about 700 future firefighters, they experience what it takes to be a firefighter at the Minnesota Wildfire Academy in Grand Rapids. Hady Clatter shows us how future smoke chasers are embarking on a new journey. Wildfires can spread fast and need to be handled quickly. The next level of firefighters were up to the challenge. The 17th annual Minnesota Wildfire Academy was held at Atasca Community College in Grand Rapids about 700 students attended with backgrounds from several states and agencies. There's just a shortage of people, so this gives a chance for people to come into the system and gain the training that they need so they can move on to work in Minnesota, work for the DNR, US Forest Service, or even work nationally. Laura Vincent has no firefighting experience, but currently works at the US Forest Service in Aurora. She jumped at the chance to fulfill one of her childhood dreams and one day hopes to become a smoke chaser. Working for the Forest Service, do weeds May through October, typically, and if I can get on a fire in the early spring or in the fall, then that'll help me to just kind of continue working. There were more than 30 classes available for the 5-day Academy. They were working with hand tools, digging line as they would on a real fire. So they're going through brush, going through timber, and they're working together as a 20-person team. The basic firefighter course is an entry-level class for new firefighters. It's also a feeder program into the wildland fire system. A mock initial attack on fire demonstrated water dropping down to suppress the simulated fire using aircraft resources. They can give us some updates as far as what's going on on the fire. Typically for us as ground firefighters, we can handle stuff that's four feet high. The public assists with the rapid response plan by calling 911 to report fires. This helps keep fires small and cost-effective. In Grand Rapids, Hady Clodder, Lakeland News. The Academy was sponsored by the Minnesota Incident Command System and Advanced Minnesota Fire Training. This was the sixth year the Academy was held at Itasca Community College. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.