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Columbia County Fire Rescue partners with Augusta Tech to offer 64-credit training program
Summary
Columbia County Fire Rescue and Augusta Tech launched a five-term, 64-credit-hour program that lets recruits earn college credit while completing EMT and firefighter certification; current class will begin ambulance clinicals and run calls before graduation, officials said.
Columbia County Fire Rescue has partnered with Augusta Tech to offer a five-term, 64-credit-hour program that allows recruits to earn college credit while completing EMT and firefighter training, officials said.
The program is designed exclusively for Columbia County Fire Rescue and combines classroom instruction, ambulance clinicals and firefighter certification to speed recruits into frontline service, program leaders said. The first class is already in progress, the next class is set to begin in November, and the current cohort is scheduled to graduate just before Christmas.
The program curriculum includes EMT coursework, ambulance clinical rotations, Firefighter I and II certification, vehicle extrication and hazardous-materials training. "We've been learning all about the anatomy and the physiology of the human body, different types of medical emergencies that can occur, and how to treat them," said Trace Kelly, a fire recruit participating in the program.
"It's our staff instructors that are training them. Myself and Chief Lesson are the directors of the program," said Chief Dickinson, chief of Columbia County Fire Rescue. Dickinson said the course was adapted to meet both Augusta Tech's standards and Columbia County's operational needs, adding that the intent is to prepare recruits so they are not "taken by surprise" on their first calls.
Dickinson said recruits will begin clinicals on ambulances as part of the program and that the department expects members of the current class to start running calls before officially completing the curriculum. "Firefighters' worst call of their career could be that very first call of their career. And I want to make sure that we have prepared them," Dickinson said.
Officials described the program as tailored to the county's fire service; Dickinson said there are "very, very few programs" like it and called it the first in the area. Funding sources or contract terms for the partnership were not specified in the program remarks.
The program is intended to provide formal college credit that can be applied toward degrees while also delivering practical, on-the-street experience for recruits. Columbia County residents seeking more information were not directed to a specific office or web page during the segment.
Hallie Turner, the reporter on the segment, said the next recruitment class would begin in November and the in-progress class would graduate just before Christmas.
