Last night fire officers reviewed the newest recruit class profiles. We do this so we can understand how each of our recruits is best able to be nurtured through the early part of their careers here. This year will mark the fourth class that will be taught entirely in-house on the subjects from Firefighter I & II, CPR Skills, Haz Mat, MnNIMS and the other skills needed to be able to perform the basic duties necessary on an emergency scene. Our classes are taught by our fire officers and our partner in the in-house process, Bloomington Fire.
Classes are twice a week on Monday and Wednesday nights and will begin on September 10th and end in April, quite a commitment for the recruits as well as the officers from both departments. We train in-house to be sure we get lots of time with our recruits and to be sure we can instill our culture and values in our newest people. We have an agreement with Hennepin Technical College so that college credits are earned for the coursework which enables our recruits to continue with their AAS degree in Fire Science if they so choose.
We are lucky here in Eden Prairie that we continue to get excellent recruits for our organization. this latest class will bring us close to our authorized strength of 95 paid-on-call firefighters. Below is a picture that shows just how lucky we are, a rainbow that points to EPFD!
