Vallejo Fire Department will honor the late Robbin Mackbee with an academy for at-risk youth, Byron Berhel, retired fire battalion chief, said Monday.

Vallejo Fire Chief Jack McArthur, Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis and Dr. Ramona Bishiop, superintendent of Vallejo schools, will make the announcement at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Vallejo City Hall.

They will be joined by representatives of the Vallejo Firefighers Union, Solutions for At Risk Youth — of which Berhel is chief executive officer — and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

In a news release, Berhel said, “The announcement comes 35 years to the day that Firefighter Mackbee lost his life in the line of duty while fighting a grass fire.”

He said members of Mackbee’s family would be attending, and that the representative from the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation would pay tribute Mackbee for both his contribution and sacrifice to Vallejo while he was on duty.

Fire department officials decided that the academy would be one way to honor Mackbee, based on his work tutoring and mentoring youth at the Omega Boys and Girls Club in Vallejo, Berhel said.

“We are excited to have this opportunity to give back to Vallejo’s youth and to be able to continue the great work that Firefighter Mackbee accomplished in our community,” McArthur said.

“I believe that the Fire Department can be a positive influence in the lives of our young people, and I encourage any young person interested in the fire service to consider participating in the program.”

The first Firefighter Youth Academy has been operating in Richmond for more than 20 years, Berhel said.

He described it as a youth development and mentoring program that provides life guidance and career exploration for youth who are at risk of social, academic of economic failure.

He said youth learn such fundamental principles as academic achievement, community service and self-discipline, and the Richmond academy has produced measurable results.

Since the start of the Richmond program, fire departments in other communities have started their own academies, he said, particularly in places where children face similar socioeconomic challenges.

Berhel helped launch the Richmond academy. “Having served as a firefighter for over 30 years, I have a connection with Robbin as a comrade in the fire service and as a servant of the community,” he said.

He said his nonprofit organization “is very excited about providing this opportunity to assist Vallejo students succeed by providing the human, technical and financial resources that are needed to help them reach their goals.”

In addition, Vallejo school district officials are viewing the program as an “excellent partnership opportunity to reach out to students who are at the crossroads of making choices that can lead to success or failure,” he said.

“As we continue to build our pipeline to prosperity for all students, we embrace this partnership with the Vallejo Fire Department and Solutions for At Risk Youth,” Bishop said.

“This new public-nonprofit opportunity will allow our students to explore careers in public safety and public service while learning other valuable life skills.”

The formal announcement of the launch of the new Robbin Mackbee Firefighter Youth Academy will start at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Vallejo City Hall, 555 Santa Clara St., Vallejo.

The academy will begin as a six-week pilot program in October, and the full nine-month program will start in March 2016, ending November 2016.

Those interested may visit the website firefighteryouthacademy.org.