Home»BALTIMORE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT»CEREMONIES»CLASS GRADUATIONS»EMT & PM Recruit Class 16-01 & 02 Graduation 10-4-16

On October 4, 2016 14 EMT’s and 12 lateral entry Paramedics graduated along with 3 Community Aides from the Baltimore City Fire Academy. All of the recruits completed their courses in Firefighter I, HazMat Operations, EVOC, and Public Safety Educator under the direction of Deputy Chief of Training Alex Perricone and his staff. They also all went through a four week rotation in the EMS Division for more specific training.
Something new for the Fire Department is the Community Aides program. It is a one year program where the students come through high school already finished their EMT course. They get their remaining training as Community Aides in the Fire Academy. After one year they promote to EMT/FF as long as they are successful. The three in this class are the first ones in this new program
Also a “first” in this graduation ceremony, the Honor Guard was comprised of class members under the direction of Instructor Rudy Leonard, also a member of the Fire Department’s official Honor Guard.
The graduation was well attended by the graduates’ families and friends as well as firefighters, officers, and the Command Staff. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was in attendance to congratulate and speak to the new recruits. Chief of Fire Department Niles Ford pinned the badges on the uniforms of the new recruits. The recruits with family members in the Fire Service had their respective members present their badges to them.
Several individual achievement awards were presented by Chief Ford. They included Highest Academic Achievement, Best Fitness and Most Improved Fitness.
Representatives of the graduating class presented a large wall plaque to Chief Perricone and his staff as a token of appreciation.
The following day the new recruits would report to their respective assignments as either BLS or ALS providers on the City’s 34 Ambulance and Medic units stationed throughout the City.
On October 19th another class of 30 EMT’s and Paramedics will start training again making up Classes 16-03 and 04.