Five firefighter apprentices in Juneau received their pins on Saturday, meaning they formally joined the force. The five new recruits are officially EMTs and are welcomed by an understaffed department.
Capital City Fire Rescue Chief Rich Etheridge led the ceremony at the Douglas Public Library, next door to the fire station.
“This is the future of the fire service,” he said. “These are the folks that are going to replace the ones that have been here for a while. ”
This program is the first of its kind in Juneau. Etheridge said the 10-month training has two necessary credentials built into it, so the department can recruit people before they are certified.
“We decided that we’ll bring them on,” he said. “We’ll give them all that training. So we look for people with the interpersonal skills and natural aptitude and some leadership and teamwork, and then we start building the rescue skills from that.”
Saturday’s ceremony marks the apprentices finishing their EMT certifications. That allows them to respond to emergencies as EMTs, offering more advanced medical care, instead of just observing those parts of the job.
Sarah Kuhnell is one of the newly certified apprentices and she said her time in the program has taught her that she is resilient.
“And now that I have that certification, and people are putting a little bit more trust in me, I’m able to do more things and kind of show what I know,” she said. “And it’s really fun and exciting to, like, put my skills to the test.”
She said sheʼs excited to have the certification under her belt, so she can be of more service to the department.
The apprentices will complete their Firefighter 1 certifications and graduate from the program in May.
