Fall River Fire Department welcomes new probationary members; Taunton and Dighton also add new members

Fall River, Taunton, and Dighton Fire Departments have new firefighters after an academy for recruit training that recently concluded.

According to IAFF L-1314 Fall River Firefighters Union, the training took place at the Fall River Fire Department’s Training Facility located on Commerce Drive in Fall River. The Fall River recruits attended 8 weeks of EMT training and 10 weeks of Firefighter training in the training classroom and burn building.

Numerous Firefighters, officers, and chief officers that have Fire Instructor Certifications and Live Burn Qualifications from the Massachusetts Fire Training Council through the Massachusetts Fire Academy trained the recruits.

The new recruits will join Squad 11, a joint vehicle between Fire and EMS. When graduating, they go from Recruit Firefighters to Probationary Firefighters until there 1-year Probationary term is satisfied and they pass all requirements. Then they will become Firefighters. Union members would also vote them into the Union at that point.

The new 9 Fall River Fire members are John Murray, Ryan Bradshaw, Jose Briones, Ethan Kurowski, Chaz Manchester, Sean McCaughey, Zachary Medeiros, Bruce Oliveira, and Anfernee Thompson.

The ceremony took place on Friday at Kuss Middle School in Fall River.