In a ceremony held Saturday, May 21, the Forsyth County Fire Department graduated its newest recruit class. Family, friends and Fire Department staff attended the ceremony held at East Forsyth High School. To view photos from the ceremony, please click here.

During the ceremony, 13 recruits officially became Forsyth County firefighters after completing training.

The recruits completed 18 weeks of firefighter training which included instruction on structural fire control, interior search and rescue, flammable and combustible liquids fire control, pressurized container fire control, fire hose testing, ladder 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. Prior to the fire school portion of their training, the recruits completed 18 weeks of emergency medical technician, or EMT, training. During the EMT school portion, each recruit completed a total of 720 hours of EMT classroom and clinical instruction. All became certified as nationally registered EMTs.

Those graduates were:

• Roy Baliem           
• Zachery Baloga
• Carl Cronbaugh 
• Jasper Freeman       
• Brandon Jones 
• Jeremy Mathers       
• Carter Mixon 
• Taffar Mizell
• Michael Palmour      
• Joshua Parker          
• Levi Sierra
• Russell Transue        
• Isaac V. Ivanco

“We are pleased to welcome these new members of the Forsyth County Fire Department family,” said Fire Chief Barry Head. “Each graduation ceremony is a wonderful opportunity to spotlight the brave men and women who are entering the profession of serving our communities.”

Hear episode 5 of The FoCo 15 podcast that spotlights the newest firefighters' stories: