Fire Department promotes six, swears innine and graduates 25

In a ceremony held Friday,Oct. 11, the Forsyth County Fire Department promoted six personnel, swore innine firefighters and graduated its newest recruit class. Family, friends andFire Department staff attended the ceremony held at Mountain Lake Church.

In the promotionalportion of the event, the following members of the department were formallypromoted to new positions:

• Fire Instructor Ronald Greame Fagan was promoted to division chief of operations
• Jason Thomas Stover was promoted to division chief fire marshal
• Fire Lieutenant Keith Andrew Pertschi was promoted to chief of training
• Fire Lieutenant William Marion Raines was promoted to battalion chief
• Fire Apparatus Operator John Shaw Allen was promoted to fire lieutenant
• Fire Apparatus Operator Kevin Badley Lindsey was promoted to fire lieutenant

In the recruit class graduationportion of the ceremony, 25 recruits officially became Forsyth Countyfirefighters. The recruits had just completed 18 weeks of intense firefighter trainingwhich included instruction on structural fire control, interior search andrescue, flammable and combustible liquids fire control, pressurized containerfire control, fire hose testing, truck and engine company operations, hazardousmaterials awareness and operations, vehicle extrication, public utilitiesgas/electric safety and terrorism awareness.

In total, each recruitcompleted more than 640 hours of certified fire training. Following the fireschool portion of their training, the recruits then completed 18 weeks ofemergency medical technician, or EMT, training. During the EMT school portion,each recruit completed a total of 720 hours of EMT classroom and clinicalinstruction. All became certified as nationally registered EMTs. Thosegraduates were:

• Nicholas Coleman Adams
• Brandon Craig Bell
• Logan Blair Carter
• Nicholas Matthew Collins
• Carson Lee Cranford
• Jason Richard Davis
• Daniel Stephen Delashmit
• Troy Daniel Doyle
• Robert Isaac Enright
• Charles Daniel Farmer
• Mark Patrick Francis
• Andrew Blake Gaddis
• Kyle Matthew Horton
• Daniel James Kastner
• Donovan Kane King
• Jared Ingram McCall
• Corey Michael McNabb
• Melvin Shane Murphy
• Jonathan Ryan Parker
• Vino Brando Ramgopal
• Kenneth Lamar Robinson
• Lee Michael Romaniw
• Alexander Neal Strickland
• Jack Lee Tribble III
• Nicholas James Turner

“We are pleased towelcome these new members of the Forsyth County Fire Department family andapplaud those receiving promotions for a job well done,” said Fire Chief BarryHead. “Each promotion ceremony is a wonderful opportunity to spotlight the bravemen and women who serve our communities.”

In the swearing-inportion of the ceremony, nine firefighters new to the county officially became ForsythCounty firefighters:

• John Christian Bowman
• Joseph Julius Catalioti
• Michael Raymond Flanagan
• Adam Bradey Gilreath
• Zachary Michael Petty
• John Elijah Kesting
• Matthew Scott Satterfield
• Marlin Eugene Thompson
• Jacob Logan Wray