Dracut Fire Department Welcomes Three New Members from Massachusetts Firefighting Academy

DRACUT — Chief Richard Patterson reports that the Dracut Fire Department welcomes three new firefighters who graduated from the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy. 

Firefighters Jacob Martin, Ryan Talbot and Dylan McCarthy are all Dracut residents who graduated from the Massachusetts 50-day Career Recruit Firefighting Training Program on Feb. 10.

Firefighter Martin is a second-generation Dracut firefighter. His father is Dracut Fire Lt. Paul Martin.

Firefighter Martin is a 2011 graduate of Greater Lowell Technical High School who spent approximately four years working with TrinityEMS in Lowell. Firefighters Talbot and McCarthy are 2018 graduates of Dracut High School. 

The 50-day MFA program prepares firefighters for basic firefighting, including search and rescue, ladder operations, water supply, pump operation, fire attack and life safety lessons, as well as non-fire responses and hazardous material response. 

All three men will now begin serving as probationary firefighters, learning from their colleagues as they work in Dracut. 

“I want to welcome these three new firefighters to our department, and I wish them well,” said Chief Patterson. “I’m pleased we have been able to fill these vacant positions to keep the department up to the strength we need to be at to most effectively protect Dracut.”

Martin, Talbot and McCarthy were among 24 graduates who represented Dracut and 13 other fire departments in the training class.

About The Massachusetts Firefighting Academy:

At the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy, firefighter recruits learn a wide range of skills in an intensive 10-week program. Certified and more experienced firefighters lead classroom instruction, physical fitness training, firefighter skills training and firefighting practice. Students are given training in public fire education, hazardous material incident mitigation, flammable liquids, stress management, confined space rescue techniques and rappelling. Upon successful completion of the Recruit Program, all students have met national standards of National Fire Protection Association 1001. About 14,000 firefighters have graduated from the Career Recruit Training program in more than 450 classes.