Anchorage Fire Department

Press Release

11-27-2007

Contact Tom Kempton 267-4999

The Anchorage Fire Department 2007 Firefighter’s Training Academy starts today, November 27^th.  The process for selection of candidates for this year’s academy began in June with notice of testing. 690 candidates were selected for the first phase which was a written general aptitude test, 456 showed up to take the test.  The top 223 were passed on to the physical agility test and a decision making examination, 148 successfully passed this phase and the top 78 from that testing were forwarded to two sets of structured oral board interviews.  40 people were offered conditional offers of employment and forwarded for a medical and psychological examination.

Today, 32 recruits begin a rigorous 15 week academy.   Candidates will receive training in emergency medical skills toward certification as an EMT, firefighting theory and practical experience in self-contained breathing apparatus, command and control, operations in high rise and other occupancies and wildland fire training. Experience deploying and using hoselines, ladders and hand tools as well as work with advanced extrication and power tools rounds out the course.  Experts in Hazardous Materials, Emergency Medicine, Communications and Leadership will lecture and a part of each classroom session will include practical applications of the skills learned in the classroom.

Successful completion of the academy will be the beginning of an intensive field training internship and a 1 year probationary period.

Of the 32 firefighter candidates in the 2007 academy, 12 are already Mobile Intensive Care paramedics will continue filling out some of the vacancies in the ranks caused by retirements and promotions in addition to the 14 new Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technician positions that were approved by the voters in the April 2007 Bond issue to staff an engine company in the very busy Fire Station 12 area in South Anchorage.