Four firefighter recruits are on the job in White County ready to put their newly-acquired skills into action. White County Public Safety held a graduation ceremony Tuesday night for Kyleigh Johnson, Owen Pitchford, Will Sexton, and Terry Stewart.
During the ceremony at the White County Senior Center, training officer Captain Lanier Swafford talked about what it took for the graduates to get where they are.
“You find yourself in your present position for a number of reasons, countless hours of training, hard work, dedication, preparation, and sacrifice are only a few of those reasons,” Swafford said.
White County Public Safety Director David Murphy administered the oath of office to the graduates. Fire service administrators then presented each of them with their helmets.
First in four years
This is the first time in four years that White County has held its fire training school. Throughout the 180 hours of instructional time and 40 hours of field training, the graduates obtained their Firefighter I Certificate and their Hazardous Material Operations Certificate.
White County has hired one of the newly-graduated firefighters full-time; the three others are working with the fire department part-time.
“This is not an effort of one or two people, but the department as a whole. All the firefighters pitched in and helped with the training and instruction of this class,” said White County Fire Division Chief Mike LeFevre. “We’ve got great commissioners who supported us in training these people and getting them onboard and it just makes for a safer, better community all the way around.”
