Thursday was Graduation Day for 16 recruits officially joining the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department!
The graduation ceremony was held at 10 a.m., marking a significant milestone for the department, as this is the first class to graduate from the new state-of-the-art training center in the Riverdale area.
The new facility offers large classrooms, locker rooms, and meeting spaces. It even includes a fully equipped gym, thanks to a donation from Planet Fitness.
The facility opened in February under a 15-year lease.
The new recruits played an essential role in helping get the center up and running smoothly.
“You could probably ask them how many times we had to move tables and chairs around throughout the structure as we got it all figured out, but they’ve set the standard,” a department official said. “They’ve come up with new ideas, we’ve helped them come up with new traditions that we’ve started here.”
Some of those new traditions included a walk through the city that ended with each recruit receiving their helmet from Chief Foley.
The recruits will now join their companies as probationary firefighters.
If you missed the ceremony, you can watch the entire thing here.