Hillsborough County Fire Rescue and Hillsborough County Affordable Housing announced the fire academy graduation for students in the inaugural Specialized Training for Emergency Professionals (STEP) program.
Fifteen students from Hillsborough County Fire Rescue’s STEP program graduated from the fire academy on August 1 at Armwood High School, located at 12000 U.S. 92 in Seffner.
Hillsborough County Fire Rescue created the STEP program this year to offer an opportunity for qualified candidates to pursue a career in firefighting. More than 140 residents applied for this opportunity. The students were selected through a rigorous application process that included writing an essay, submitting references and participating in interviews.
In January, the students began studying in the emergency medical technician (EMT) field, learning about CPR, prehospital emergency medicine and assessing patients. After completing the EMT training, the students continued their fire academy training at the Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Fire Academy, located at 9450 E. Columbus Dr. in Tampa. The training, which was administered by Aparicio-Levy Technical College and Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, included firefighting safety, firefighting techniques, extrication, ladder drills and search and rescue exercises.
Along with identifying and selecting the students, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue worked with Hillsborough County Affordable Housing to secure funding for the STEP program through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). A percentage of the grant can be used for public service, allowing Hillsborough County Fire Rescue to pay tuition and a wage for each of the students enrolled in the STEP program.
By completing the fire academy, the students met the 492-hour requirement to graduate from the Aparicio-Levy Technical College Fire Academy and will be dual certified in firefighting and EMT upon graduation. The students will now be eligible to take the state firefighter examination. Once they pass the examination, they can apply to become a firefighter at any fire department in the state.
You must be logged in to post a comment.