The 16 recruits celebrate their graduation at the Orchard Hills academy.
Sixteen new firefighters have joined the ranks of Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) after graduating last Friday.
The new firefighters, who include a former police officer, an army officer, a mathematician, a beauty therapist and an electrician, were the first class to graduate from the new FRNSW Emergency Services Academy at Orchard Hills.
The state-of-the-art Academy opened last year, replacing the FRNSW State Training College at Alexandria.
Minister for Emergency Services, David Elliot, congratulated the recruits and welcomed them into the firefighting family.
“These 16 firefighters have signed up for one of the most demanding and important roles in our community and will soon take up positions at fire stations across Sydney and regional NSW,” Mr Elliot said.
“They have proven themselves able to meet the many challenges of the job over months of intense training, from firefighting and road‑crash rescue, to advanced first aid and hazardous materials response,” he said.
Chief Commissioner of FRNSW, Paul Baxter, said the graduates were a fitting first class for the new Academy.
“These recruits have shown they have the diverse skills, capabilities and talents required to undertake the varied work that our firefighters do – from educating the community about fire safety and providing emergency medical care to responding to natural disasters and hazmat incidents,” Chief Commissioner Baxter said.
“They’ve been trained to be prepared for anything and I know they will uphold the high standards of integrity, courage and professionalism expected of a FRNSW firefighter,” he said.
The new recruits will take up positions at various fire stations in Sydney and regional NSW.
