| Volunteers, mentors, instructors, friends and family gathered at the Wagontown Fire Company in Coatesville on Thursday December 12 to congratulate and acknowledge the hard work and dedication of some of Chester County's brave men and women. The celebration was held for the recruits of the Chester County Dept. of Emergency Service's latest Firefighter Academy Class. The members attending received their Firefighter I certification for successfully completing a rigorous 172 hour course over the past few months. Each member that attended this "recruit" style class received training and education in Hazardous Materials Operations, CPR/AED, fire ground tactics, operations and rapid intervention team training. Finally, the recruits were taken into a burn building at the West Chester Fire Training Center and were given the task of extinguishing live fires under the supervision of the County's Fire Instructors.
The Longwood Fire Company is proud to announce that three of these recruits are members of our great organization. Newly commissioned firefighters Corey Denton, Charles "Chuck" Simmers, and Bas de Vries attended the Fire I class every Tuesday and Thursday night from 7pm-9pm and every Saturday and Sunday from 8am-5pm to receive their certifications. This was done in addition to their lives outside the firehouse as well as their non-emergency duties at the firehouse. Chuck is a married father of four small children and works as a foreman with the Petroll Landscaping Company in the Kennett Square area. Bas is a senior at Unionville High School and Corey is currently attending college at West Chester University.
The Longwood Fire Company cannot express enough how proud we are of these three brave men. Their tireless effort, dedication and strong work ethics display the exact principles the LFC was founded upon and strive to maintain in everything we do. Congratulations boys! |
