SCHOHARIE – Several small fires broke out on May 28 at the Capital Region BOCES Schoharie Campus, searing into the minds of young scholars’ lessons in arson, fire and combustibles.

Seniors in the Criminal Justice program burned several model homes that they had constructed from scratch as they learned how structural design, air and fire flow, accelerant usage and other factors impact house fires. Teams of three or four students developed scenarios for each fire and then burned their homes while their classmates analyzed the fire and collected evidence.

Students said they enjoyed the project.

“It’s a pretty cool project. We get to build the house, come up with a good scenarios and then execute it,” said Isaiah Ferguson, who attends the program Schoharie.

Classmate Logan Tessier agreed.

“It’s good to learn about arson and how fire spreads. It will be useful in my future,” the Sharon Springs student who aspires to be a 911 dispatcher said.

Fire investigation is a unit in the Criminal Justice program at Career and Technical Education Center and students last month started their project by learning from New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control Investigator Andrew Pohl. He spoke to students in teacher Darin Jones program about fire “loads” to how fire spreads and how investigators pinpoint the origin of a fire, as well as how they collect evidence.

There are approximately 100 students in the two-year Criminal Justice program. With the help of partners in law enforcement and higher education, Criminal Justice students learn about the history, theory, practices and recent developments in the field of criminal justice, as well as practice the skills necessary for those careers.

For more information on the Criminal Justice program, go to https://www.capitalregionboces.org/career-technical-education/courses-programs/criminal-justice/