There were be several new members of the Fire Department as of Friday.

Lafayette Fire Department Spokesman Alton Trahan says there are nine recruits that will be honored with their firefighter certification on Friday.

Trahan says with the addition of these nine people, it will drop firefighter vacancies to four.

The recruits spent seventeen weeks in the classroom, and they were faced with many different training activities that they had to master.

Here are some of the different activities that firefighters had to master:

  • Classroom instruction
  • Hands-on training
  • Physical fitness
  • Principles of fire behavior
  • Fire chemistry
  • Structural desgin
  • Water application
  • Firefighting tactics
  • Search and rescue
  • EMS
  • Hose lays

Trahan says that the requirements that need to be met to become a firefighter are vastly different than even just ten years ago.

Adding more officers for the department adds to the following:

  • More services for the community
  • Firefighters safety
  • Firefighter effectiveness

The graduation ceremony will happen at 9:30 this Friday morning at the Lafayette Fire Training Cetner at 300 North Dugas Road.

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