OCEAN PARK — Twenty-three students from nine fire departments across Pacific and Wahkiakum counties graduated from the Pacific County Regional Firefighter Academy last week, representing the latest class to join rural departments across the region.

The fire academy was completed in partnership with the Washington State Patrol as part of the Regional Direct Training program to deliver Basic Firefighter 1 training in rural communities. The WSP Regional Direct Training Program is led by Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal Howard Scartozzi, who was in attendance for there ceremony held Thursday, May 9, at the Peninsula Senior Center in Ocean Park.

The graduates are:

Joshua Boucher, Samantha Grote and Thomas Holland (Chinook Fire Department); Andrew Gaerlan (Ilwaco Fire Department); Riley Clauser, Katelynn Glasson, Jose Mendez, Carlos Lopez (Long Beach Fire Department); Sean Eastham and Taylor Gudmundsen (Naselle Fire Department); Joshua Bobo, Charles Green, Mark McGinnis, Delano Thomas, Christopher Earls, Chazz Hester and Jorden Perez (Pacific County Fire District 1); Jaxson Freeman, Sean Wonnacott and Evan Sampson (Raymond Fire Department); Jason Lewis (Wahkiakum County Fire District 4); Leann Campbell and Hannah Mendez (Cathlamet Fire Department).

The 23 graduates received recognition for completing 150 hours of firefighter 1 training, meeting the requirements of the knowledge, skills and abilities outlined in NFPA 1001: Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications.

20 students received recognition in completing an additional 58 hours of training meeting the requirements of the knowledge, skills and abilities outlined in Chapter 4 of NFPA 472 and Chapter 5 of NFPA 1072; Standards for competence of responders to Hazardous Materials/Weapons of Mass Destructions Incidents.

Eight students successfully completed all requirements and testing for International Fire Service Accreditation Congress (IFSAC) Firefighter 1/Hazardous Materials Awareness/Hazardous Materials Operations certification.

Twelve students are continuing to work on completing the IFSAC testing and certification process.

The training began on Jan. 2 and concluded with final testing on April 25. The fire academy was held every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 6-9 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Twenty-two of the 25 students are 100% volunteers and completed the training on their own time with no compensation.

The training included local training at PCFD No. 1 Seaview Station, Clatsop Community College MERTS facility for live fire training, and a two-day trip to the Washington State Fire Training Academy in North Bend for live fire, search and rescue, and car fire training.

“In summary, our local communities will have 23 new dedicated individuals who are trained to the national standard of basic firefighting operations,” said Mike DeConto, Assistant Chief of Operations & Training for Pacific County Fire District No. 1.