Volunteer

teer fire chief at King of Prussia Volunteer Fire Co. Judge Maureen Coggins is a volunteer on the other side of the county (in Red Hill.) We have volunteers in the department who are accountants, contractors, nurses. Gregory and Richard Jones were from the Norristown Fire Department but we’re proud of the volunteers from other departments too.”

As expected, the pandemic shifted the graduation ceremony online, with Thomas Cook, Pennsylvania State Fire Academy Administrator, as the virtual Commencement speaker.

“The graduation with the cadets was all done virtually. Because of COVID we couldn’t have any inperson graduations, but usually the ceremony at the Fire Academy

is very elaborate; they invite family and friends,” O’Donnell said. “It’s a whole evening of graduation, but unfortunately, because of the pandemic, that wasn’t able to happen. Chief Garrity and his team at the Academy did a marvelous job of putting the program online, and still had the students recognized for their accomplishments.”

After their training was interrupted by the pandemic in March, the members of Class 2002 resumed classroom instruction and practical evolutions in July under strict mitigation measures, a press release noted.

The men and women of Class 2002 will protect their communities as firefighters in 24 volunteer and combination fire companies in Montgomery, Berks, Chester, and Delaware Counties.

“Graduating from the Fire Academy is no easy task,” O’Donnell said. “It’s not like you show up and you pass. You have physical agility classes you have to endure, there’s high temperatures, cold, and this was all done during COVID … 2020 has certainly been an oddball year and COVID has thrown a monkey wrench into a lot it. It is a real sacrifice. They’re doing this without pay, taking

time away from their families It’s a commitment. They certainly sacrifice some time to go to the Fire Academy and complete over 200 hours of training and we’re certainly proud of their accomplishments and looking forward to them taking the pledge and volunteering as well.”

Membership at a fire department is required for anyone enrolling at the Fire Academy, O’Donnell noted.

“You don’t just show up at the fire academy and go to school. You need to be a member of a fire company for insurance purposes and so you can be outfitted with personal protective gear. Primarily the training for volunteers is done on nights and weekends, and it’s done at the Conshohocken Road location in Plymouth Meeting.”

Like all fire departments across the country, the Norristown Fire Department is in need of volunteers.

The fire Department welcomes any person, age 16 or older to join. Volunteerism nationwide is considerably down so we need more people in the community to step forward and offer their time and talents in volunteering for fire service. We’re happy to see the volunteer numbers slowly increase. We hope we’re able to sustain that for the future were certainly proud of the accomplishments, not only Gregory, but other people who graduated from the Fire Academy class 2002.”

Anyone age 16 and over can go to the website, Norristown.org to complete an application, and we’ll have members of the fire department sit down with those individuals. We offer insurance, education, a low interest loan program. We provide individuals with mortgages at a low interest rate. The fire department has a lot to offer and if people are willing to give their time to us we’ll take it.”