Cape May County Freeholder Vice-Director Leonard C. Desiderio announced that a graduation ceremony was held on June 26, 2015 for Fire Fighter 1 and Fire Fighter 2 candidates at the Cape May County Public Safety Training Center. The keynote speaker was State Senator Jeff Van Drew.
Fifteen candidates graduated from the Firefighter 1 Program after completing the 164 hour course requirements of the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety. The graduates now have the basic skills to safely perform duties of a fireman at an entry level. The firefighters’ training included Haz-Mat Awareness and Operations, I-100 and I-700, Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and live burn training. Sean McDevitt, Senior Instructor at the Cape May County Fire Academy presented awards to Brittany Peter, President, Kieran Hyer, Vice President and Ryan Matthew Zielinski, most improved candidate.
The Fire Fighter I graduates are Austin Howard Blood, John Ferguson and Kieran Thomas Hyer of the Avalon Fire Company, Ryan Orzech of Cape May Court House Fire Company, Ryan Matthew Zielinski, Cape May City Fire Company, Kevin A. Wiley, Green Creek Fire Company, Brittany Nicole Peter and Richard John Sweeten, Jr., Rio Grande Fire Company, Mitchell C. Dancy and Matthew Michael Mashura, Sea Isle City Fire Company, Tejay Gilliam, Carlos L. Mora, Villas Fire Company, Roger A. Bruno, Wildwood Fire Company, Chad Alvarado, Wildwood Crest Fire Company and Jeanette Carol Schalek, Woodbine Fire Company.
Eight fire fighters completed the Fire Fighter II Program giving them the knowledge and skill to operate at an emergency scene with minimal supervision. Included in the course are structural fire attack, flammable liquids and gases firefighting, foam operations, confined space and technical rescue awareness, low angle rope rescue, motor vehicle extraction, firefighter survival, basic first aid and Incident Management System 200.
The Fire Fighters that have successfully completed this advanced training are Keith Patrick Arenberg, Jr., Cape May Court House Fire Company, Jonathan Brown, Cape May City Fire Company, Andrew Cowan, Cody Sheets and Jonathan Spriggs from the Green Creek Fire Company, Kristen Kolondra and Craig Loper, Rio Grande Fire Company and Keith Pryce, Sea Isle City Fire Company.
For more information, please call the Cape May County Fire Academy at 465-2570.
Pictured in Photo (l to r): Patrick Sheets, Green Creek Fireman and father, Ralph e. Sheets, Jr. (Former Freeholder) grandfather, Cody Sheets, Fire Fighter II graduate from Green Creek Fire Company