Firefighters across the region graduate from Level 1 training program
Fifteen firefighters from Kingston to Plympton and Gilbert’s Cove and most points in between have graduated from an intensive Level 1 training program that saw them do 145 hours of classroom time and about 35 hours of hands-on training.
The graduation ceremony was held at the Bridgetown Volunteer Fire Department with Annapolis County Fire Services Association earlier this month, handing out certificates to their successful graduates.
ACFSA president Robbie Brown, registrar Hilliard Ewing, and vicepresident Mike Lockett attended to congratulate the firefighters.
“The Annapolis County Fire Services Association for the past few years has had a program right here in Annapolis County,” said spokesman Daniel Cheeseman. “Firefighter Level 1 is the fundamental training course that every firefighter should have to continue his or her career. All courses going forward build on this Fire- fighter Level 1 program.”
Local firefighters taught the Level 1 program.
“We had several instructors this year,” said Cheeseman. “We had Chris Howe out of Bear River. We had Justin Oliver out of Bridgetown fire. We had assistance from Earl Hebb, and then I believe Tim Hebb as well assisting with instruction.”
He said the students learned the basic things with firefighting.
“You start everything from basic firefighter behaviour, fire safety and orientation,” he said. “In order to fight fire you have to understand it, and that’s part of this course – everything to the point of how fire behaves, to even different materials that it burns, and how buildings are constructed. These are the basic that are used in learning.”
Firefighters then start going into more detail on how to apply certain agents, and how to do certain techniques on the fire ground, he said.
It was the ACFSA’s biggest graduating class ever, said Ewing, who noted students covered a total of 22 modules. Those modules included orientation and history, firefighter safety, communications, building construction, fire behaviour, breathing apparatus, portable extinguishers, ropes and knots, search and rescue, scene lighting, forcible entry, ground ladders, tactical ventilation, water supply, fire hose, fire streams, loss control, evidence preservation, hazmat awareness, and fire and safety initiatives.