The S.A.W. Fire Academy — a joint academy between South Adams County Fire Department, Arvada Fire, Westminster Fire Department and Brighton Fire Rescue — held its graduation ceremony on Friday night. The first joint academy among these agencies, a cadre of instructors and each Training Section worked diligently to put together an exceptional academy.
Over the course of 14 weeks in the classroom and on the drill grounds, the recruit class quickly developed comradery while challenging each other to improve. Their academy motto was, ‘Set the Standard – Reach Higher.’ They lived up to that motto with hands-on training and experience with not only fire suppression and search and rescue, but also with special operations including technical rescue, hazardous materials, wildland firefighting and more.
We’re thrilled to introduce you to the newest members of Arvada Fire: Daniel Duncan, Matthew Ferguson, Ryan Powell, Kevin Rathjen, Alex Smith, Cody Thompson and Sam Weinberg. After graduating, the probationary firefighters will now be assigned to a station and a 48/96 schedule for Field Instruction.
We’d also like to congratulate each of the other 13 academy graduates as well as our partner agencies and the cadre of instructors.