Recruit Academy

The recruit academy is a twenty-two week school during which each firefighter receives over 720 hours of firefighter/emergency medical training. Upon graduation, the recruits are State of Virginia certified firefighters.

The recruit academy includes lecture and hands-on practice sessions taught by 4 Training Coordinators and occasional guest instructors. The Training Coordinators also focus on physical fitness with daily workouts and discussions on nutrition and mental health.

Some of the training includes:

• Learning about the daily station routines including equipment checks and station cleaning
• EMT Basic certification
• Basic firefighter skills including: fire suppression, ropes and tools
• Advanced firefighter skills including: driver / pump operations
• Hazardous Material Awareness & Operations
• Emergency Vehicle Operations
• May Day - Firefighter Down
• Incident Command
• Firefighter Safety & Survival
• Self Defense Tactics
• Fire Prevention & Inspections
• Fire Arson Detection

During the academy, recruits will participate in live burns in the burn building and EMT ride alongs with the Fire Medics.