Why are there children in it?
I assume because (at least) in Germany for firerescue and THW there are also (sub-) organizations which are taking care for the youth, because in those areas it's quite important to take care for the junior staff to prevent for shortage of recruits. Those organizations are dependend on volunteers taking over (some) duties. Especially in rural areas or smaller cities there isn't a career fire service but only a volunteering fire brigade available (sponsored by the local authorities or by private persons).
Update: Ups, sorry Gordon. You named it perfectly. Didn't noticed that you post in the same time ... em, well your post is quite a while ago ... so sorry I didn't see your post at all
(hm, was on a new page ...)