| On Thursday, June 16, members of the Union Fire Company No. 1, along with family and friends, traveled to the Wagontown Fire Company for Chester County Fire Training's Spring 2011 Graduation.
The Union Fire Company No. 1's Brian Vickers was honored for his completion of the Spring Firefighter I class. This course spans 166 hours of introductory fire training, concluding with the Firefighter I and HazMat Ops Testing. We are pleased to pass along that Brian passed both of these tests with flying colors and is now Nationally Certified. Brian graduated High School last week and will ship off for the Army in less than a month.
On hand as the guest speaker of the evening was Jim Thompson, a retired Firefighter from the FDNY. Jim started his career in Emergency Services by joining Good Fellowship Ambulance in West Chester in 1968. He later served with the Goodwill Fire Company, the U.S. Army (as a Medic) and Coatesville VAFD, before becoming a Firefighter in California.
Jim's lifelong dream was to be a member of the FDNY, a dream that became a reality in the 1990s. He was on location at the World Trade Center on 9-11-01 and was trapped in the North Tower for five hours before being rescued. He shared some of his brightest moments with the graduates and welcomed them to the brotherhood of firefighting.
Instructor Jeff Groves led the services for the evening and was assisted by Fire I Lead Instructor John DeMarco, Fire II Instructor John Carbo and Fire Officer I Instructor Latta White. The Firefighter I class presented an award to the Instructors to commemorate 10 years of offering Fire I certification in the county.
The Union Fire Company No. 1 would like to congratulate everyone who completed these various courses and encourages them to continue and advance their firefighting skills. |
