40 graduate from TEEX Online Firefighter Recruit Academy
COLLEGE STATION – Forty new firefighters graduated from the 13th Online Firefighter Recruit Academy on Aug. 22. They completed 335 hours of training online before traveling to College Station for an intensive 21-day, 210-hour, hands-on firefighting “boot camp” at Brayton Fire Training Field.
The graduates came from Texas, California and Hawaii, as well as Angola and several provinces in Canada. Coach G Guerrieri, Head Soccer Coach at Texas A&M University, was the keynote speaker at the graduation ceremony at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at Texas A&M.
The academy prepares entry-level firefighters to earn the Texas Commission on Fire Protection certifications for Firefighter I, Firefighter II, Hazardous Materials Awareness and HazMat Operations. The program is eligible for college credit through the Fire Science Technology degree program at Blinn College and the Fire and Emergency Services Administration degree program at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
The Online Firefighter Recruit Academy, which is operated by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), has graduated nearly 500 students since the first class was held in 2011.