 From the classroom to the field, new firefighter personnel are getting some hands-on experience thanks to the annual Wildfire Academy. Lakeland News reporter Shrell Moore has a look at the training going on at Itasca Community College. We've basically filled every hotel in the Grand Rapids area, plus we have students in Deer River, we have students in Hibbing. The Grand Rapids area has been burning up with excitement this week thanks to the Wildfire Academy. The Academy has been going on for 18 years. It started out originally over in Evelith. At that time we had maybe a dozen to 15 classes that we taught. This year there were 670 students and 98 instructors from all over the United States. 32 courses were offered from basic Wildland Fire 101 to air operations, simulated injury class and even a chainsaw class. We try to incorporate a lot of classes like the Urban Interface class has a volunteer fire department on it plus our agency people on it and what they do is they come to this class and for each position within the Wildland Fire program they have to take training, they have to go through a task book and then they can advance on up the line. The Academy has grown immensely in the past 5 to 10 years. For 2019 they're planning for more of the same with only a few class changes here and there. One year we might teach a supply unit leader class because we've taught trained 15, 16 people that year the next year we might offer one of the other classes that are available. So the class mixture changes a little bit each year. Reporting in Grand Rapids, Shrommore, Lakeland News. The Wildfire Academy will continue through tomorrow. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.