Recruit program graduates 21 volunteer firefighters

CHELAN - “This is only the beginning,” said Chelan Fire and Rescue Fire Chief Tim Lemon during his speech to the graduating 2019-01 Recruit Class on May 2.

After three and a half months of training, 21 volunteer recruits from Chelan, Entiat and Orondo received their badges and certificates as volunteer firefighters and are now ready to serve the three communities.

Serving Chelan will be: Tim Cote, Laura Cross, Michael Doyle, Marco Garcia, Kelcie Keys, Megan Kosel, Spencer Oberfelder, Billy Poppie, Jasmine Shattuck, Atticus Sheffield, Greg Simpson, Kammi Spence, Guillermo Venegas, Muel Vierra and Carlos Venegas. The recruits will be spending their time as volunteer firefighters at the Chelan airport, South Lakeshore and City of Chelan fire stations.

Nereida Cardenas, Misty Marcyes, Josh Peerson, Blake Pipkin and Mark Ward will be joining Chelan County Fire District 8 personnel in Entiat. Meanwhile, Wyatt Dietrict will be serving as volunteeer firefighter for the Douglas County Fire District 4 in Orondo.

Last year, the recruit program graduated 27 volunteers. “We are 13 months in and we have 48 new faces joining the volunteer fire service ... we are being very successful in that aspect,” said Assistant Fire Chief Brandon Asher. He thanked the graduates for their commitment to the program and their hard work. “To have these 21 faces and 27 from the last class is huge to see showing up to these wild land fires. It allows us to protect more houses at once and get all of our apparatus out the door in a timely fashion,” Asher added during his speech.

Other important members of the community such as Chelan Mayor Mike Cooney, Fire Chief Mike Asher and Fire Commissioner Stacy Barker of Entiat, along with Chelan Fire Commissioner Russ Jones also congratulated the graduating class and had words of encouragement for the new firefighters.

Twenty-nine instructors were recognized for their assistance with the program the last few months with a certificate.

The recruit graduaion ended with closing remarks from Deputy Chief Mark Donnell, which led all to cake and refreshments afterwards.