2024 - ECC Center for Emergency Services Recognizes First Full-Time Firefighter Academy Students

The Elgin Community College Center for Emergency Services (CES) will recognize its first full-time firefighter academy students on July 16. The ceremony will be at the CES located at 815 E. Plank Rd., Burlington, Ill., at 3 pm. Seven fire academy students will be honored at the ceremony.

“By offering a full-time firefighter academy, we can support our area departments, specifically our career departments that are hiring new personnel,” said Ron Two Bulls, senior director of academic programming and public safety training. “By offering a full-time academy, in addition to our part-time academy, we can now meet the needs of all our fire departments, whether that be career, part-time, or a combination.”

The CES’s plan is to run at least one part-time and one full-time fire academy annually and increase to two full-time academies if needed. The full-time fire academy provides education and training for firefighters entering the fire service in an 8-week format.

“I had a great experience in the fire academy; even the hard days were good because valuable lessons were learned,” said Damian Davis, of Crystal Lake, Ill., an ECC fire academy student who will be recognized at the July 16 ceremony. “Doing the academy full-time was excellent; the fast pace was perfect as we were constantly doing something either in the classroom or on the ground and burn tower, so it never got boring.”

After graduation, Davis plans on going to orientation with his sponsored fire department in Carpentersville, Ill. “I’m really looking forward to my future in the fire service after the academy,” said Davis.

This coming fall, the CES will offer two sections of the part-time firefighter academy and plans to offer a combination EMT/Firefighter Academy section in the spring of 2025. For more information about the ECC’s Firefighter Academy, visit elgin.edu/firescience.