Each year Japanese home-stay students from Niigata Seiryo Junior College in the Niigata Prefecture, Japan, come to Federal Way, Washington to learn about the American culture and language.

The participants in the program stay in homes in the Federal Way area for 20 days. In Japan, the women are studying English and this adventure helps them learn and understand the language and culture. While here, each day they have English lessons and they explore local tourist locations. Today they visited Pierce County Fire District 13 at Station 77 to learn more about the fire district.

After a warm welcome from Assistant Chief Wassall the seven students asked the firefighters a series of questions. Some of the questions that were asked: How many firefighters and emergency medical staff are at this fire department? How many are women? How many emergency vehicles does the district have? And so on. The volunteer Fire Command team, which included, Rosenberry, Fry and Hensley (PIO) answered questions alongside Captain Luis Szarko.

After the question and answer session the tour went out to the shop bay where they got to try on the heavy jackets and sit in the fire engine and aid cars. But, this was just a short stop before the ladies got to go out to practice hitting targets with the fire hose. When asked what they learned, most stated that they didn't realize how heavy the turn-out gear was!

We look forward to seeing the next group of exchange students!

To learn more about the Niigata Homestay group you can visit them on Facebook.