Biloxi Fire Department welcomes new faces to the team

It’s official! There are now new firefighters on the Biloxi force.

Today, during a ceremony more than ten recruits graduated the fire academy.

Friends and family filled Fire Station Number Seven in Biloxi to congratulate the newest graduates of the Mississippi Fire Academy. Graduate Avery Holter said, “It’s great honestly. It’s exciting. I’m really happy and I’m proud to be a part of the Biloxi Fire Department.”

The more than ten recruits completed the nearly 20 week rigorous training program to be able to serve on the force.  Biloxi Deputy Chief of Training Nicholaus Geiser said, “It’s an extensive process for Biloxi. First, we started them with EMT. We did an eight week crash course to get EMT basic under their belt and then essentially we finished out on a Friday. And that Monday they started their fire fighter 1001 basic training and that’s a 10 week program, but with the holidays it made it 11 weeks so we’ve been at it since December 16 and we just finished at February 28.”

But Captain Matthew Bigelow says the recruits got to work long before getting to basic training. “The process changed a little bit since I was hired on. But from the day I turned my application into when my start date was a year and a half and it was interviews, physical tests, and psychological tests. These guys got hired on and they went through six weeks or seven weeks of EMT school straight into another seven weeks of firefighter training. So for 14 weeks they’ve been in the books and out on the fire ground training and getting ready for this day.”

During the graduation ceremony the department also dedicated a new state of the art training tower in memory of a fallen firefighter. “Which we’ve never had in the City of Biloxi. So, we’re really excited and we’re getting to honor one of our fallen firefighters we lost just about a year ago. And we’re getting to honor his family and memory with a whole new graduating class that got to use his training tower for the first time this year.”

Graduate Jared Kerness said, “It’s just state of the art. It’s going to not only benefit the recruits, but all the firemen who are still actively working and are in our department because we have a place where we can all go and train and do some realistic stuff and there are no limits anymore. There are no boundaries and not to mention we don’t have to waste time going from place to place. So, it’s a huge asset.”

The department also welcomed their newest member, Jack the Fire Dog, to the team. He received a customized pin.