Both Addison and Oxford fire departments get ‘new’ firefighters

By Don Rush

Last month the Northeast Oakland Fire Academy graduated 28 new, state certified firefighters at a ceremony at the Legacy Center’s banquet room at 925 N. Lapeer Road.

According to Oxford Fire Chief Matt Majestic, this fire academy is sponsored and run by members from the townships/cities of Addison, Auburn Hills, Brandon, Bruce-Romeo, Clawson, Oakland, Orion, Ray, Oxford, Rochester City, Troy and White Lake fire departments. Oxford had four students in the class. “They all already had their Emergency Medical Technician License,” Majestic said. “Each is eligible to now work in our part-time system as well as respond as paid-on-call to supplement our ranks and response capabilities.”

This year’s Oxford fire academy students were Gwendolyn Nitz, Tim Gelinas, Nick Periat, and Logan Blankenburg. For Addison Township, the graduates were Erica and Dean Wrubel (mother and son), Melissa Gierak and Brendon Hughes.

“This was a good year for us,” Addison Fire Chief Jerry Morawski said. “Usually we have one to zero students and this year we had four. Our graduates will now train for their EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) certification.”

The fire academy ran from January through June. Those in attendance met Monday and Thursday evenings from 6:30-10:30 and some Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Each department had students in the class. The class is free to the student, but does cost the departments their time and wages to assist in teaching the class. The course is managed by Lt. Justin Templeton of the Oxford Fire Department.

“Each department helps out with instructing, we divide it up,” Morawski said. “It’s a really nice setup.”

According to Majestic, some costs are covered through training funds received from the State of Michigan, Bureau of Fire Services as a result of Fireworks Licensing Sales. Each county receives funds from the State (to be used for training purposes only). “Oakland County has a county-wide training committee and this committee allocates the ‘fireworks funds’ to help meet training needs within the county,” he said.

Upon successful completion of the fire academy class provides the necessary training to be eligible for students to take the State of Michigan Fire Fighters Training Council Firefighter I and II certification exams. If the student passes the exams, they are then certified as a Firefighter in the State of Michigan.

There are other training classes and certifications they receive during the academy as well. The additional certifications received are: Emergency Vehicle Driver Training, Incident Command for the Fire Service, Hazardous Materials Awareness and Operations, and Courage to Be Safe, which, according to Majestic, “this is a class that goes into greater detail and depth regarding Life Safety Initiatives.”

Students this year ranged from 18-47 years of age, who either hope to become full-time firefighters, or are looking to be a part of their community’s volunteer or paid-on-call fire department.