The Augusta Fire Department celebrated its latest class of recruits, Friday morning. An audience of supporting families and friends gathered in the auditorium of Augusta Tech’s Jack B. Patrick Information Technology Center for the graduation ceremony for Recruit Class 24-03.
“Today, we honor not only your courage, but also your perseverance,” said Fire Chief Antonio Burden to Augusta’s new firefighters in his keynote address. “You’ve been trained to enter situations that others would run from… The journey ahead will not be easy. There will be times when you are tested in ways you cannot yet imagine. But remember this, you have been equipped with the skills, the knowledge and the heart to meet those challenges head on.”
The ceremony entails a series of remarks, after the posting of the colors, the pledge of allegiance and an invocation, leading to a graduation pinning, in which select loved ones cross the stage to meet their graduates and present and fasten their firefighter pins to their uniforms.
“The pomp and circumstance is all part of it,” said Division Chief of Training Bryant Wolf. “To be able to have finished one part of their career and advance on to the next, it’s a big milestone.”
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The class is named after the year and month in which they began training. Friday’s 13 graduates started firefighting training in March of this year. After selection for hiring, recruits begin fire school to earn their firefighter certifications, and then train to be licensed as EMT’s.
“Each of you sitting before me represents the culmination of rigorous training,” said Augusta Interim Administrator Tekiyah Douse, in her address welcoming the new grads to the city workforce. “An unwavering dedication and the embodiment of the spirit of Augusta, a spirit of resilience, courage and selfless service.”
After graduation, some of the recruits may have work as soon as the next day, Wolf explained, as the new firemen have already received their assignments, which station to work and which shift for which to report to duty.
Graduate Anthony Mitchell, who was also awarded for having the highest overall average score in EMT school, joined the fire department to be better equipped to help the people in his community, he said.
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“I’m excited because it’s been a long road,” said Mitchell, recalling the year-long process from being selected via the Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT) through training in fire and EMT school. “The sense of nervousness is now that I have this training, I know that my entire community, city of Augusta, is depending on me to do my job, and that’s a huge task, but I thank myself and my peers are up for it.”
The graduates of Fire Recruit Class 24-03 were:
Ernest Brown
Marco Brown
Cameron Clark
Fernando Collet E. Silva
Adrian Edwards
Sean McNamara
Cayne McNeil
Anthony Mitchell
Daylon Munoz
Dylin Musgrove
Michael Sodomka
Franklin Stuart Jr.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
