Fire!

This semester my HIS 143 class is exploring the Winter Park Fire Department. As always I expect they will make some unexpected discoveries. The chance to consider the growth of a public institution such as the Fire Department is another way to think about historical change over time. Getting into the archives and researching different aspects of the Fire Department will, I think, force students to understand how changes in work, technology, and society affect everyday life. On the other hand, they might just think its weird. I think that the Winter Park Historical Association will get some new web-pages (eventually) for Historic Winter Park. At the end of the day, I think it will add a level of engagement to the class that would not have existed without the project. Between the speakers that have joined us (Fire Chief Jim White and the author of Orlando FireFighting Ginger Bryant) and the supplemental reading related to firefighters and fire fighting, I think students are getting a big view of the topic. Since I received a Service Learning Grant for the semester for the project, students will also interview retired firefighters, a task I know many are not looking forward to. However, this like other aspect of the project will engage the students in a way that books and articles cannot. Let hope they don't cause any fires in their quest to get their interviews done.