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 White Plains, NY - The longest and most comprehensive training class in Westchester history for career firefighters will culminate Friday when 16 recruits graduate from the Westchester County Career Fire Academy.
The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. in the auditorium of the Medical Education Center, 30 Sunshine Cottage Road at New York Medical College, Valhalla.
Floyd A. Madison, director of the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control, will be the keynote speaker at the event.
“This comprehensive training ensures that these recruits are better prepared to immediately go into the field and be a hands-on asset to their departments and communities,” said County Executive Andy Spano, who will also speak at the event. “These young men entered the academy as civilians, complete strangers from all walks of life, and they leave here today as professional firefighters and good friends.”
The academy ran for 16 weeks, and consisted of 640 hours of instruction. It was three weeks longer than prior academies. It was a joint effort of 24 county and state fire instructors and was conducted at the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services Fire Training Center.
The graduates represent the Fairview, Greenville, Larchmont, New Rochelle, Newburgh, Port Chester and Scarsdale fire departments.
Anthony Sutton, commissioner of the county Department of Emergency Services, said, “While they are from different departments, these recruits are one unit. They serve their home department and when called upon will render mutual aid to many other communities – a task that this academy has prepared them so well for.”
All facets of training needed by professional firefighters, was offered. New and expanded instruction was conducted in the following areas:
- Night operations
- Use of thermal imaging cameras
- Live Burns
- Apparatus operation
- Rescue technology and elevator rescue operations
- Critical incident stress de-briefing.
Recruits also received extensive instruction in dealing with basic emergencies that affect the health and safety of residents that involve gas leaks, flooding, water leaks, heating systems, oil tanks, incinerators and other problems that firefighters are called upon to deal with on a daily basis.
There was a special emphasis on physical fitness and agility. John Cockerel and James Seymour, county fire instructors and members of the Scarsdale Fire Department, conducted the physical conditioning program. Under their supervision the recruits achieved exceptionally high scores on the CPAT physical fitness test.
The program was run under the auspices of the Career Chiefs of Westchester and the supervision of the academy director, Deputy Chief Tom Duffy of Mount Vernon, Co-Director Captain Bobby Benz of New Rochelle and Co-Director Lt. Dave Russell, retired of the New York City Fire Department.
List of the academy graduates and their departments:
Neil Davino Fairview
Michael Murray Fairview
Andrew Lee Greenville
Brian Raftery Greenville
Chris Luzzi Larchmont
Gary Bruzzese New Rochelle
Robert Dipasqua New Rochelle
Kevin Langston New Rochelle
Michael Lepore New Rochelle
Durette Tyler New Rochelle
David Wagstaff New Rochelle
Nicholas Williams New Rochelle
Lee Gordon Newburgh
Daniel Rhode Newburgh
Sahnjai Karnsomtob Port Chester
Timothy Hill Scarsdale
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