Sandy Springs Fire Rescue will graduate 15 participants from its inaugural Citizens Fire Academy class at City Hall on Thursday Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m.
The Citizens Fire Academy is designed to train community members to be able to assist the fire department with non-suppression activities. The eight-week program provides an overview of all aspects of the department’s operations, such as how it works with the Chattahoochee River 911 Authority, known as ChatComm.
“Our goal is to develop a volunteer group which is able to act as a support response team providing assistance on smaller, yet important tasks that are a part of incident response,” said Sandy Springs Fire Rescue Chief Keith Sanders.
Class participants learn about fire behavior, how to operate equipment such as hose lines and breathing devices and they are trained on rescue equipment. Class members also receive basic first aid training, leaving the class CPR and AED certified. Hands-on instruction includes a simulated fire exercise and each class member completes a 12-hour shift in one of the city’s four fire stations.
The program is free for participants, but they must attend all instructional sessions.
For more information about the program, please visit the Fire Department’s Volunteer Program page at sandyspringsga.gov.