Fire Department promoted two, and graduated 12

In a ceremony held Monday, May 15, the Forsyth County Fire Department presented awards, promoted two personnel and graduated its newest recruit class. Family, friends and Fire Department staff attended the ceremony held at North Forsyth High School.

Awards were presented to personnel in the first portion of the ceremony. Four Life Saved awards were presented to Fire Department personnel in recognition of outstanding actions over the past several years. Three of the Life Saved awards were presented to the firefighters by the individuals whose life they saved.

In the promotional portion of the event, the following members of the department were formally promoted to new positions:

• Fire Lieutenant Douglas James Gibson was promoted to the rank of battalion chief.
• Firefighter/EMT Timothy Gilbert Surguy was promoted to the rank of fire lieutenant.

In the graduation portion of the ceremony, 12 recruits officially became Forsyth County firefighters. The recruits had just completed 16 weeks of intense firefighter training which included instruction on structural fire control, interior search and rescue, flammable and combustible liquids fire control, pressurized container fire control, fire hose testing, truck and engine company operations, hazardous materials awareness and operations, vehicle extrication, public utilities gas/electric safety and terrorism awareness. In total, each recruit completed more than 640 hours of certified fire training. Following the fire school portion of their training, the recruits then completed 18 weeks of emergency medical technician, or EMT, training. During the EMT school portion, each recruit completed a total of 720 hours of EMT classroom and clinical instruction. All became certified as nationally registered EMTs. Those graduates were:

• Jonathan Michael Arendt
• Patrick Thomas Browne
• Joseph Morgan Clark
• Alexander John Goebel
• Donald Richard Holtfreter
• Thomas Robert Hughes
• Nicolas Mark Kitchen
• Anthony Taft Monk
• Jonathan Van Phan
• Gregory Patrick Sinnott
• Robert Glen Still
• Bradley Griffeth Williams

“As we applaud these fine men on completing a rigorous training program, we welcome them into their new career,” said Fire Chief Danny Bowman. “I am honored to witness those receiving recognitions tonight, whether it be an award for their service, a well-deserved promotion or the new recruits graduating amongst their family and friends. We are proud of all of them.”