Wayne County Board of Education Member Mark Ross wanted put in firefighting and EMS classes in the county’s high schools. As a former delegate, fire chief and retired teacher, he said this could be a crucial step in addressing crisis-level shortages and getting young people interested in emergency services. “My end goal is to get them interested in these fire departments, and then they want to get on these squads and become EMTs and paramedics and help this crisis we have going on in our county,” Ross said. The idea for the fire sciences and EMT classes is undergoing curriculum and funding approval now, but Ross said the hope is to have it where students could first get their Firefighter 1 certification, then Firefighter 2. If they wanted to, students could start EMT courses during their final semesters.