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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Fire academy experiences

The 2007 graduating class of Region No. 9 Fire Academy is shown. Graduates include 14 firefighters who will assist in Valley Fire District 8. They are: Mark Birdsill, John Celestino, Justin Dominquez, Evan Hennessey, Jeff Jewell, Tom Rothrock, Robert Swanson, Jared Carlson, Nicholas Chiacchia, Seth Firestone, Tom Horne, Ben Joyce, Jeff Smith and Caleb Tyler. Many are enrolled in EMT class as well. (Courtesy of John Celestino / The Spokesman-Review)
John Celestino Special to Your Voice
The 2007 graduating class of Region No. 9 Fire Academy is shown. Graduates include 14 firefighters who will assist in Valley Fire District 8. They are: Mark Birdsill, John Celestino, Justin Dominquez, Evan Hennessey, Jeff Jewell, Tom Rothrock, Robert Swanson, Jared Carlson, Nicholas Chiacchia, Seth Firestone, Tom Horne, Ben Joyce, Jeff Smith and Caleb Tyler. Many are enrolled in EMT class as well. (Courtesy of John Celestino / The Spokesman-Review)

Some members of the 2007 graduating class of Spokane County District 8 volunteer firefighters recently posed for a group photo. The district covers some 110 square miles from south Liberty Lake to the Glenrose area and includes the communities of Saltese, Ponderosa, Painted Hills, Mica, Freeman, Valleyford and Moran.

The district has four fire houses and currently has 26 full-time and 16 temporary-hourly and 16 resident firefighters, and about 70 volunteer firefighters. They assist an estimated 23,000 residents and go on about 1,100 calls each year.

The volunteers began their training with a physical agilities and strength test in late August, sat through the interview process and then after background checks, medical exams, hearing exams and pre-requisite classes, were enrolled in a college-level class called Region No. 9 Fire Academy at Station No. 92 on Farwell Road in Mead.

This class is approximately 72 hours and takes place all day on Saturdays and four hours each Wednesday night with a few Sunday trainings as well. Written and practical exams are given every week, with a final exam requiring all students to pass with at least 80 percent proficiency.

After graduation, all volunteers must complete training in Hazardous Materials/WMD Awareness Training, and Emergency Vehicle Acccident Prevention Training. Finally, all volunteers who wish to respond to nonfire (medical) responses need to take another college level class to become an Emergency Medical Technician-Basic. This class consists of 110 more hours of training.

With all the publicity in the paper regarding fire department news, I thought it would be great to give some of these local residents who graduated with me and working as well as those that have joined me to complete our EMT training, which will end Jan 16 with our final written and practical exams, some face time in our paper.