{"id":94000,"date":"2019-07-19T16:59:49","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T20:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=94000"},"modified":"2019-07-19T16:59:49","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T20:59:49","slug":"allentown-fire-department-welcomes-new-firefighters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=94000","title":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN FIRE DEPARTMENT WELCOMES NEW FIREFIGHTERS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Three new firefighters are putting their skills to work in the Allentown Fire Department.\u00a0 They were among the graduates of the Allentown Fire Academy who were honored during a ceremony today at Scottish Rite Cathedral in Allentown.<\/p>\n<p>Newly certified firefighters from Bethlehem and Easton were also recognized at the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>Allentown Mayor Ray O\u2019Connell and Fire Chief Jim Wehr presented badges and graduation certificates to new Allentown firefighters Devin Grow, Nicholas Murray and James Soccodato.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Connell reminded the graduates that \u201cYou have such an extraordinary challenge because many people look up to you, especially children. You can make a difference in their lives, and how you relate to them may be the impetus to their seeking a career in public service.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Allentown Fire Department responds to nearly 10,000 service calls a year.<\/p>\n<p>The addition of the three new firefighters brings the total strength of the department to 125 firefighters.<\/p>\n<p>Firefighter Grow holds an associate degree in fire science from Harrisburg Community College.\u00a0 He has been assigned to the 1<sup>st<\/sup> Platoon.<\/p>\n<p>Firefighter Murray earned an associate degree in criminal justice from Brookdale Community College. He has been assigned to the 2<sup>nd<\/sup> Platoon.<\/p>\n<p>Firefighter Soccodato is a U.S Marine Corps veteran.\u00a0 He is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Fire Science from New Jersey City University.\u00a0 Firefighter Soccodato has been assigned to the 3<sup>rd<\/sup> Platoon.<\/p>\n<p>Each of the graduates has completed 20 weeks of training in the basics of firefighting, building construction, vehicle rescue<em>, <\/em>swift water rescue, rope rescue, high-rise operations, aerial operations, emergency vehicle operations, pumps and hydraulics, basic life support and CPR.<\/p>\n<p>The firefighters received classroom instruction involving daily and weekly academic testing, homework and evaluations, intense physical training and participation in hands-on drills.<\/p>\n<p>Each of the graduates holds certifications as a Firefighter I, Firefighter II, Pumper Driver Operator, Aerial Driver Operator, Emergency Medical Technician \u2014 Basic, Vehicle Rescue Technician, Hazardous materials operations, and Basic boating safety.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nInformation provided to TVL by:<br \/>\nMike Moore<br \/>\nCommunications Manager<br \/>\nMayor&#8217;s Office<br \/>\n 435 Hamilton Street<br \/>\n Allentown, PA 18101<br \/>\n Mike.Moore@allentownpa.gov<br \/>\nhttp:\/\/www.AllentownPA.gov<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><code class=\"code\">-AMAZONPOLLY-ONLYWORDS-START-<\/code><br \/>\n<div class='adkingprobanner sidebar banner3023'><a href='http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/' target=\"_blank\" data-id='3023' data-ga='{\"campaign\":\"\",\"banner\":\"\",\"implemented\":\"universal\",\"imp_action\":\"Impression\",\"click_action\":\"Click\"}'><img src='https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/inpostblank.jpg' alt='' \/><\/a><\/div>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<div class='adkingprobanner sidebar banner7036'><a href='http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com' target=\"_blank\" data-id='7036' data-ga='{\"campaign\":\"\",\"banner\":\"\",\"implemented\":\"universal\",\"imp_action\":\"Impression\",\"click_action\":\"Click\"}'><img src='https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/inpostblank.jpg' alt='' \/><\/a><\/div>\n<code class=\"code\">-AMAZONPOLLY-ONLYWORDS-END-<\/code><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?post_type=adverts_posts&p=7036\" class=\"read-more\">Click here to read more... <\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/allentown-fire.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94000"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/94001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}