Gilmer County Fire Rescue
Non-Certified Recruit Academy
What started as an ambitious endeavor for Gilmer County Fire Rescue, has finally become a
reality as of August 01, 2022. In an effort to increase the staffing for our fire rescue
department, we took the approach of training our own firefighters and EMT’s entirely in house
and using our own state certified instructors. This process has a twofold affect, first we recruit
local home-grown candidates with ties to their community, and secondly, we are able to train
our recruits operationally in the way we need them to function on EMS scenes and on the fire
ground.
The non-certified recruit program came to life in late 2021 as we launched our first Company Officer Development Academy (CODA) for our future Lieutenants. While we were actively training the future leadership of our department, command staff were quietly, but diligently working behind the scenes to launch our first ever non-certified academy. Through a lot of hard work, planning, determination, and logistical magic, we secured a start date for our non- certified academy.
In early June of 2022, we advertised via the local newspaper and social media regarding our upcoming opportunity to receive free fire and EMS training while at the same time being compensated to attend training. We held 2 well attended open house events on June 9 and June 14. Between both of the open house meetings, we generated 32 applications for our 15 non-certified positions. Through a process of background checks, driving records, physical agility testing, and in person interviews, we finally identified our 15 candidates to start the program.
The non-certified program started on August 01, 2022 with the candidates attending training 40 hours a week. The Firefighter I and II portion is scheduled for completion on December 02, 2022. Upon completion of Firefighter I and II, the class will immediately transition to EMT-Basic and then onto EMT-Advanced. The EMT-Basic and Advanced program is scheduled to conclude at the end of April 2022. In early May of 2022, the now certified candidates will transition to a regular 24-hour shift and supplementing our current staffing of fire rescue employees.
We are very optimistic that our non-certified academy will be great success for Gilmer County Fire Rescue and the citizens that we serve. We are very pleased with our outstanding Instructors, as well as the progress the candidates have made up to this point. We are very thankful to our county commission for the support that they have given this new program, and with continued support and funding, we hope to launch a second academy sometime in 2023.
The non-certified recruit program came to life in late 2021 as we launched our first Company Officer Development Academy (CODA) for our future Lieutenants. While we were actively training the future leadership of our department, command staff were quietly, but diligently working behind the scenes to launch our first ever non-certified academy. Through a lot of hard work, planning, determination, and logistical magic, we secured a start date for our non- certified academy.
In early June of 2022, we advertised via the local newspaper and social media regarding our upcoming opportunity to receive free fire and EMS training while at the same time being compensated to attend training. We held 2 well attended open house events on June 9 and June 14. Between both of the open house meetings, we generated 32 applications for our 15 non-certified positions. Through a process of background checks, driving records, physical agility testing, and in person interviews, we finally identified our 15 candidates to start the program.
The non-certified program started on August 01, 2022 with the candidates attending training 40 hours a week. The Firefighter I and II portion is scheduled for completion on December 02, 2022. Upon completion of Firefighter I and II, the class will immediately transition to EMT-Basic and then onto EMT-Advanced. The EMT-Basic and Advanced program is scheduled to conclude at the end of April 2022. In early May of 2022, the now certified candidates will transition to a regular 24-hour shift and supplementing our current staffing of fire rescue employees.
We are very optimistic that our non-certified academy will be great success for Gilmer County Fire Rescue and the citizens that we serve. We are very pleased with our outstanding Instructors, as well as the progress the candidates have made up to this point. We are very thankful to our county commission for the support that they have given this new program, and with continued support and funding, we hope to launch a second academy sometime in 2023.
