The New Year was ushered in with seven new volunteer firefighters for Bradford West Gwillimbury Fire and Emergency services.
Volunteers Travis Crutchley, Curtis Gasko, Marcio Marques, Alessio Polisninelli, Julian Sbrolla, Anthony Tassone and Jacob Tuck received their identifier helmet patches at a private, socially distanced ceremony held Wednesday evening at the Bradford fire station.
The recruitment process began in August 2019 and proceeded until October 2020 with new recruits joining members of the fire department at the fire college for a weekend of live-fire training.
Selected recruits started their training with an online NFPA (National Fire Protection Association ) 1001 Firefighter certification program involving online theoretical training, followed up each week with practical skills practice and testing.
After completion of the course, the recruits wrote their certification exams for Firefighter Level 1.
The recruits finished up the remainder of the training just before Christmas, then completed their NFPA 472 hazmat operations course and their Medical First Responders certification.
In 2020, the new recruits wrote their Level 2 certification which involves more technical rescue and operations skills such as auto extrication.
Once completed both certifications, the new recruits were able to ride on the fire trucks for a one-year probationary period where they continued to hone their skills and training.
After one year they were confirmed ready to be patched over from recruit to operational firefighter.
The helmet patch is the identifier that shows the firefighter’s department and badge number.
Congratulations to the new recruits!
