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Fire recruits set to graduate

Stafford firefighters to graduate from Fire and Rescue Recruit School

Date published: 11/17/2009

BY JONAS BEALS

The Stafford County Fire and Rescue Recruit School will graduate its fourth class tomorrow. Sixteen new career firefighters have the weekend off before they start work on Monday.

"I'm very proud to be a part of this," said Dan Goff, a former career firefighter in the city of Fairfax. "I've never really experienced this kind of tightness with my fellow recruits."

Stafford Fire and Rescue Department public information officer Mark Stone was happy to hear it--aside from learning necessary fire fighting and lifesaving skills, camaraderie is one of the desired outcomes of the academy.

Although Goff has had extensive training, he had to start over when he came to Stafford. Every new hire--from the greenest rookie to longtime career firefighters--is required to go through the 15-week program.

"We start with the basics to get to the point where everyone is playing the same game," Goff said.

The new firefighters, who also are trained as emergency medical technicians or paramedics, will fill a few vacant positions in the county. They also will allow the county to staff two new 24-hour paramedic units, bringing the total number of such units in the county to seven.

"We've come a long way," said Fire and Rescue Chief Rob Brown. "It's hard to believe it's our fourth class. It adds value to what we already have in the department. I can sleep at night knowing I have people on duty that went through a very rigorous training process."

The first recruit class graduated in 2007. The most recent class graduated a year ago.

The academy happens as needed, based on the number of open positions in the department. Recent budget cuts have slowed hiring, but supervisors did approve two additional ambulances and the staff to go with them.

Recruits are selected for the academy after a series of tests and interviews. All of tomorrow's graduates live nearby in Virginia, and some are Stafford residents. Many have prior firefighting experience, including a few who have volunteered in Stafford.

Lisa Vaughn grew up in Stafford but later moved away. She now lives in Caroline County.

"I knew I wanted to be in fire and EMS," she said. "I saw the way the Stafford department was growing. They're taking a lot of positive steps."

Academy instructors Erick Kling and Joe Grainger are proud of the recruits. They said that the academy is a department-wide effort, with as many as 30 members of the department offering lessons and lectures over the 15 weeks.

Grainger and Kling are keeping mum on an important piece of information: which station each graduate will be assigned to. That will be revealed at graduation.

"The most rewarding part of this will be working with them in the field," Grainger said. "Their first six months won't be re-teaching them skills they need."

"Training starts here, it doesn't stop here," Stone added.

Jonas Beals: 540/368-5036
Email: jbeals@freelancestar.com

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Date published: 11/17/2009