5 New Everett Firefighters Among Recruits Training In Local Fire Academy

Five Everett Fire Department recruits are among the inaugural class as 10 area fire departments launch the Snohomish County Fire Training Academy today. Here are more details from Everett Fire…

The Snohomish County Fire Chiefs Association directed the development of the local academy as the county’s growing hiring needs outpace available enrollment at the Washington State Training Academy in North Bend. The intensive 14-week academy will be based at South County Fire near Everett. Member agencies are: Arlington Fire Department, Everett Fire Department, Lake Stevens Fire Department, Marysville Fire District, Mukilteo Fire Department, North County Fire & EMS, Snohomish County Fire District 4, Snohomish County Fire District 7, Snohomish County Fire District 19 and South County Fire.

Per Everett Fire Chief Tim Key, “The Everett Fire Department is excited to take part in this cooperative effort that will produce mission-ready firefighters already familiar with Snohomish County operational practices. This will allow Everett to get our new firefighters into the field and responding sooner. I applaud the teamwork and effort that went into creating the Snohomish County Fire Training Academy allowing Snohomish County fire agencies to have a more cost-effective local alternative to train our recruits.”

Twenty-seven recruits will train 40 hours a week learning skills to prepare for their first shift assignment at the fire station. Seven company officers will serve as mentors. Training will be provided by 45 instructors drawn from all 10-member agencies. Many have previous teaching experience at the Washington State Fire Training Academy. Instructors from Everett Community College Fire Science program will provide strength and conditioning to prepare the recruits for the physical demands of a career in the fire service. Other training will focus on the mental demands of the job including handling stress in emergency situations.

Providing a local recruit academy not only addresses the county’s hiring needs, but offers other benefits as well:

The local academy will include training in Snohomish County protocols not available at the state academy. This will greatly reduce or eliminate the need for post-academy training, allowing departments to put recruits to work at local fire stations more quickly.
Multiple departments sharing local expertise breaks down borders so firefighters can work together more effectively on mutual aid incidents.
Sharing instructors and curriculum reduces duplicated effort.
Training locally allows recruits to go home to their families at night instead of spending 14 weeks at the state academy in North Bend.
The costs for the initial year are equal to the expense of sending a recruit to the state academy. Participating fire departments are donating the use of apparatus and equipment. The academy is seeking a federal grant to pay for equipment needs going forward.

Fire departments are looking at other regional opportunities. The Snohomish County Training Consortium formed last year to explore ways to expand multi-jurisdictional training and work together across jurisdictional boundaries.

The five new Everett Fire recruits who will be attending this upcoming academy are Mark Bates, Chau Nguyen, Andrew Porter, Joseph Reynolds, and Dustin Todd.

Chief Key would also like to recognize Captain Mike Bedard as one of the seven company officers who will serve as mentors for recruits during the 14-week academy, as well as, Division Chief, Matt Sorenson, who is one of the four academy coordinators.