Fire Training Academy’s inaugural class includes locals

The inaugural class of the new Rhode Island Fire Training Academy in Exeter on Friday will include eight recruits from the Woonsocket Fire Department.

Woonsocket’s graduates are Christopher Sundin, Brandon Rourke, Scott Kulacz, David Northup, Mason Keach, Nicholas Woodbine, Christopher Giles and Joseph Pagnozzi.

More than 250 people are expected to attend the dualceremony affair, which includes a ribbon-cutting for the new academy and the commencement for the firstever graduates from the statewide training program for firefighters, according to state public safety officials. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, Congressmen James Langevin and David Cicilline, and state and local officials and fire chiefs from throughout the region are expected to attend.

The ribbon-cutting will celebrate the completion of the Fire Training Academy, a $9.6 million project that includes a $6.4 million “live burn” building and training area where firefighters can practice techniques and tactics on actual fires. That facility opened in 2011.

The graduation ceremony honors 14 recruits from four communities who participated in the inaugural session of the academy, which consists of a nine-week training and certification program available for firefighters from around the state.

In addition to the firefighters from the Blackstone Valley, the class includes two each from West Warwick and Jamestown.

The event will also include a display of firefighting equipment, trucks and antique firefighting vehicles.

The event is open to the public and takes place at 1 p.m. at 4 Green Lane in Exeter.