For Immediate Release

Friday, May 20, 2016

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Three Franklin Firefighters Graduate from the State Firefighting Academy

FRANKLIN – Chief Gary B. McCarraher is pleased to announce that three Franklin firefighters graduated from the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy this afternoon.

Nicholas Garland, age 34, of Franklin, Christian Mills, age 30, of Taunton and Keith Schnabel, age 40, of Wrentham were three out of 24 graduates from the 243th class of the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy’s 45-day Career Recruit Firefighting Training Program. A ceremony was held at the Department of Fire Services in Stow today at 1:30 p.m.

All three firefighters have been with the Franklin Fire Department since March 7. They completed a two-week orientation at the department before their class began at the academy on March 21.

“Firefighter Garland, Firefighter Mills and Firefighter Schnabel have all worked very hard since they started with our department earlier this year,” Chief McCarraher said. “We are all very proud of their accomplishment of graduating from the academy and look forward to having them as a part of our team.”

The intensive nine-week state firefighting academy for municipal firefighters involves classroom instruction, physical fitness training, skills training and live firefighting practice.

Firefighters learned the basic skills they need to respond to fires, including how to contain and control them, public fire education, hazardous material incident mitigation, flammable liquids, stress management, confined space rescue techniques and rappelling.

To graduate, firefighters were required to demonstrate proficiency in life safety, search and rescue, ladder operations, water supply, pump operation and fire attack (ranging from mailbox fires to multiple-floor or multi-room structural fires).

“This rigorous professional training provides our newest firefighters with the basic skills to perform their jobs effectively and safely,” State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey said in a statement.

The remaining 21 graduates, 19 men and two women, represent the 19 fire departments of Amesbury, Bedford, Cambridge, Clinton, Concord, Dighton, Leominster, Littleton, Lowell, Marlborough, Middleborough, Nantucket, North Andover, Norton, Norwood, Somerville, Wayland, West Bridgewater and Woburn.

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