Firefighters from Saugus, Nahant, and Swampscott graduated from the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy Friday.
Saugus firefighters Robert Johnson, Derek Lanzillo, Mario Long, Dario Picozzi, and Robert Roberto, Nahant firefighter Matthew Canty, and Swampscott firefighter Sean McGovern were among 37 graduates from 23 departments to complete the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy’s 50-day Career Recruit Firefighter Training Program.
“This rigorous professional training provides our newest firefighters with the basic skills to perform their jobs effectively and safely,” said State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey. The Massachusetts Firefighting Academy (MFA), a division of the Department of Fire Services, offers this program tuition-free. The ceremony took place at the Department of Fire Services in Stow.
Other graduates were from departments in Beverly, Canton, Easton, Fairhaven, Foxborough, Gloucester, Holden, Hopkinton, Mansfield, Medfield, Methuen, Milford, Norwood, Reading, Scituate, Seekonk, Watertown, Westborough, Westwood and Winchester
Upon completion of the Recruit Program all students have met national standards of National Fire Protection Association 1001 and are certified to the level of Firefighter I and II, and Hazardous Materials First Responder Operational Level by the Massachusetts Fire Training Council, which is accredited by the National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications.
Students receive classroom training in all basic firefighter skills, practice first under non-fire conditions and then during controlled fire conditions. To graduate, they must demonstrate proficiency in life safety, search and rescue, ladder operations, water supply, pump operation, and fire attack. Fire attack operations range from mailbox fires to multiple-floor or multiple-room structural fires.
Students learn all the basic skills they need to respond to, contain and control fires. They receive training in public fire education, hazardous material incident mitigation, flammable liquids, stress management, confined space rescue techniques, and rappelling.
The intensive, 10-week program for municipal firefighters involves classroom instruction, physical fitness training, firefighter skills training, and live firefighting practice.
