18 recruits graduate to become firefighters

In a ceremony held Friday, April 29, the Forsyth County Fire Department presented a number of awards, promoted nine personnel and graduated its newest recruit class. Family, friends and Fire Department staff attended the ceremony, which was held in the auditorium at North Forsyth High School.

Awards were presented to personnel in the first portion of the ceremony.

“Periodically, the Forsyth County Fire Department reviews incidents of significance that have been nominated for particular acts of heroism or actions that result in a life saved,” said Division Chief Jason Shivers, who served as emcee for the ceremony. “Additionally, specific incidents that result in decisive and extraordinary efforts by a company are reviewed for Unit Citation Awards.”

Seven Unit Citation awards and 10 Life Saved awards were presented to Fire Department personnel in recognition of outstanding actions over the past several years. Some of the Life Saved awards were presented to the firefighters by the individuals whose life they saved.

In the promotional portion of the event, the following members of the department were formally promoted to new positions:

• Fire Lieutenant Justin Lee Suggs was promoted to the rank of battalion chief.
• Firefighter/EMT Patrick Doss Anderson was promoted to the rank of fire lieutenant.
• Firefighter/EMT Joshua Lloyd Brown was promoted to the rank of fire lieutenant.
• Firefighter/EMT William Matthew Burtle was promoted to the rank of fire lieutenant.
• Firefighter/EMT Brian Patrick DeStefano was promoted to the rank of fire lieutenant.
• Firefighter/EMT Jonathan Michael McPherson was promoted to the rank of fire lieutenant.
• Part-time Instructor Ronald Scott Kennedy was promoted to the position of fire instructor.
• Fire Inspector Robert Lee Major was promoted to the position of plans reviewer.
• Fire Inspector Edward Walter Siggelkow was promoted to the position of fire inspector, senior.

In the graduation portion of the ceremony, 18 recruits were officially welcomed as Forsyth County firefighters. Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services Assistant Fire Chief Eddie Robinson was the guest speaker, welcoming the recruits to the fire service and congratulating them on their graduation.

The recruits completed 16 weeks of intense firefighter instruction and drills which included training on structural fire control, interior search and rescue, flammable and combustible liquids fire control, pressurized container fire control, fire hose testing, truck and engine company operations, hazardous materials awareness and operations, vehicle extrication, public utilities gas/electric safety and terrorism awareness. In total, each recruit completed more than 640 hours of certified fire training to prepare them for their new career. Following the fire school portion of their training, the recruits then completed 16 weeks of emergency medical technician, or EMT, training. During the EMT school portion of their recruit program, each recruit completed 560 hours of EMT classroom instruction and 112 hours of clinical instruction. This training culminated in them being certified as nationally registered EMTs. Those graduates were:

• Kendal Ryan Ammons
• Mitchell Austin Bauer
• Devyn Christopher Blackmore
• John Christian Bowman
• Zachary Alex Coleman
• Cameron James Collins
• Jacob Aaron Cox
• Anthony Robert DiMercurio
• Joshua Kane Harker
• James Isaac Henry Kimbrough
• Mathew Thomas Lilley
• Tony Allen Moore
• Nicholas Collin Provost
• Matthew David Rowley
• Jonathan Russell Shea
• Jason Wesley Smith
• John Sims Stancel
• David Dylan Stow

“These recruits completed an extremely intense training program and we congratulate each of them for what they have accomplished,” Fire Chief Danny Bowman said. “From the recruits who are starting their career with the fire service to the veteran members of the department who were promoted and who were honored for their heroic actions while on the job, we are proud of all of them.”