TWELVE firefighters from the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) have recently graduated from the Firefighter Development Programme run by the College. During the graduation ceremony, Paul Southern, AWE Chief Fire Officer thanked the College for “training the recruits to the highest possible standards.”

Graduation day gave the firefighters the opportunity to show off their skills to friends and family as they responded to an industrial themed scenario on the College oil rig. Working as a team, they were able to gather information and feedback to Incident Command so that a plan for extinguishing the fire safely and quickly could be formulated, they tackled multiple fires on the oil rig, and undertook several casualty rescues.

There was a surprise ending to the demonstration, when Firefighter Oliver Gratton got down on one knee to propose to his girlfriend Vikki-Jo. Fortunately, she said “yes” and the wedding will take place in next summer.

Speaking on behalf of the graduating recruits, Gareth Bridger said: “We arrived at the College, as 12 individuals. We included five retained firefighters, two bakers, two AWE employees, one dancer, one Marine and one tree surgeon. Twelve weeks later, we are no longer individuals. We are a team of people, united in our accomplishments, our support for each other and our commitment to seeing all of us reach the end of training together.

“We have been pushed to our limits, placed in difficult situations, overcome challenges and obstacles, learnt and developed new skills and of course, had a lot of laughs along the way. None of this would have been possible without the support and wealth experience given to us by our course director, Lee Bransby and his right hand men Rob Martin, Sean Moulton and Andy Clarke, and the incredible facilities available at the College.”