This is our 11th Join Academy.
Join Academy with Wes Fargo in our first attempt with Moorhead, so we're excited about this.
It truly now has become a Metro Recruit Academy.
You guys are going to find out throughout your careers that we regularly work together.
And as Chief Fuller and I decided a couple years ago that we might as well do this together
because it's just going to be better, we're going to be intermingling,
we're going to be, we respond next to each other all the way through.
This is something that most fire departments in our region don't get to do.
The amount of resources that it takes to put this academy on is tremendous.
That's one of the huge reasons why we actually do this joint academy
is because we realize that between both fire departments, all three fire departments now,
the resources we have, we can pull our resources, we can come out with a better product.
When you get out in the field, remember a couple things.
When somebody calls for help, you are the fire department.
It's not people back in the office.
It's not the rest of the crews that are in the other stations.
When they see you and when you interact with them, you're the face of the entire fire department.
You get to form their opinion about what we do each day,
and you get to make a difference in their life today.
For this, I was graduated high school here, 2023,
and after high school didn't really know where I wanted to go,
so I went to a local college down in the cities
and started pursuing a degree in fire science there,
got all my fire certs, and then while I was doing that,
I was out building in-ground swimming pools,
and then I happened to get all my certs, and then I started applying places,
and Fargo just seemed right for me.
I went to college in East Grand Forks.
I got my fire degree in fire technology.
I worked at a power sports repair shop in Barnesville that I opened up
and kind of just saw the opportunity and went for it and kind of all worked out.
Originally, I was living in Arizona for about six and a half years,
and I just moved back here in the winter,
and I was working for a fastener company in Arizona,
and it wasn't that fun. It wasn't that interesting,
and I have thought about being a firefighter before,
and I've been encouraged by people to pursue being a firefighter,
so I came up here. I saw that Fargo Fire was hiring,
and I said, hey, why not give it a shot before I get too old,
see if I can do this.
I finished this past year at college up in Fargo,
and there with aspirations of pursuing the firefighting,
I applied last spring, and that brought me to here.
Before this, I managed a barbecue restaurant for five years and did that,
and then I got involved with the fire department.
I've always wanted to be in the fire service,
so I just decided that restaurant industry wasn't for me.
I decided to get into the fire service.
I went to state fire school.
I was a volunteer in Mayville, North Dakota.
I met Captain Worlinger there and did a class with him.
I started talking about the opportunity of getting hired on
and the possibility of it, so I applied and figured,
you know, I enjoyed doing it so much, I might as well do it as a career
and hopefully stick around and do what I enjoy.
So before the academy, I was with a daycare.
I worked in a daycare in West Fargo,
and I did that part-time for a handful of years.
I got involved in the fire academy earlier this spring
when I saw an ad in the newspaper for the hiring of new firefighters.
So I thought I'd join, made it through the hiring process,
and now into the academy.
I've always wanted to be a firefighter.
My grandpa was a firefighter in Henderson, Nevada,
which is just outside of Vegas for like 25 years or so.
So I knew what I always wanted to do.
I was in my first year of college.
I was in Dickinson going to school,
and then I did two years of school in Santa Maria, California,
and then I was going to go back and finish up school.
Ultimately decided I was ready to join the fire service,
so worked some underground construction for a little bit,
then worked in a tire shop a little bit while I was going to EMT school
at the same time, and then, yeah.
Before this, I was getting trained in to be a restaurant manager in Fargo,
West Fargo called, and just accepted.
Before this, I worked in the food industry for a long time.
I also was worked at a couple different universities in Minnesota.
The way I got involved was that I've always kind of looked at the fire departments,
though I never made that jump, I guess you would say,
so I wanted to try something different and see how that worked out.
I am on the Detroit Lakes Fire Department.
That's how I kind of got involved in this area
as far as upper central part of the state.
My dad was a full-time fireman in St. Paul in the Twin Cities for 25 years,
so I grew up around culture.
Before going through the academy, I was in the military for eight years,
and I was around that team aspect.
Music
95 just seems really boring.
I would hate to sit at a desk every day.
It's almost like a calling, like there's so much to attract you to the fire service.
I grew up in sports, so I like to be with that kind of team mentality and whatnot.
Kind of one of those things where it just felt right, so.
I wanted to do something to help the community,
and I wanted to do something that would like keep me out of the office in a way.
I wanted to do something a little more physical.
I wanted to do something that I don't know what will happen exactly next.
I want to be able to come to work and try something new every time,
and that's one of the great aspects of the fire service.
It's been good, definitely.
A lot of it goes back to our daily job.
We're going to be in stressful situations, high intensity sometimes,
and you're going to have lots of things going on in your mind
and having to put all those together and perform your job to the best of your ability.
It's been a reawakening for me.
I went through a lot of it with the military,
so getting back into the swing of things has definitely been a challenge,
but a good challenge, and it got me right back to where I was.
I'm a hands-on learner, and pushing myself is one thing I like when other guys are depending on you,
and like with the captains, they're really pushing you in our evolutions,
and for me, it's good to see that and push it to your limits.
Reading about something and talking about it in a classroom setting,
you get a lot of knowledge from that,
but then actually going out and doing it and applying that process in real life,
that has been really helpful, so you understand how it works,
and then you go out and do it.
For certain things, there's different ways to get the same result.
That's been really nice in that if I don't like the one way I was taught,
well, maybe there's another way that clicks easier in my brain compared to the next guy,
so that's been really helpful for learning all these different types of skills,
starting from zero to a hundred.
A lot of people bring a different view on things of like,
hey, maybe we could do it this way, or no, we shouldn't do it that way.
I've tried that, so really just having people with more experience than me.
A lot of us have gotten pretty close throughout this academy, so that's been pretty cool.
The best part about this profession is that you get to learn hands-on,
and I'm a very hands-on learner,
and I think talking about something over and over, one thing,
but when you're able to actually do it and physically do it with your hands,
it's just very easily obtainable the way you can learn,
and you can retain knowledge that way.
In my aspect, I think it's very nice that you can pretty much relay everything
that you're learning in the book hands-on, which is very nice.
I've seen my confidence grow, which is a big thing for me,
but one of the things that I will take away from this is just being a part of a team again.
I played sports my entire life growing up, and now you get back into this,
and I'm 32 years old.
It's been a while since I was in high school sports and stuff,
and now it feels like you're just a member of a team all over again,
and the relationships and the camaraderie you got with these guys.
Learning from all of the different agencies, from West Fargo, Fargo, Moorhead,
the different captains, they teach you the same.
A lot of the information, the material is all very similar,
but each organization does have a little bit different specific way
on how they might approach a problem.
Firefighting is a very exhausting job.
It's stressful, it's strenuous,
and you can get exhausted quickly, so it's important to conserve energy
so you don't get burned out too fast.
Each captain has their own way of coaching you.
There's all these little tips that they always share,
and even though the material is the same,
it's nice to be able to talk with somebody from Moorhead
who has a little bit different perspective on how they would approach a problem
or how they would do something as simple as pulling a hose.
The most rewarding part of the academy is finding out
how much more I'm capable of, but probably more than that,
just all the guys that I've gotten to go through the academy with.
We've gotten to be close with all of us, one another,
pretty good, solid group of guys.
It gets tough, but you just got to keep pushing through it.
You just got to remember what the end goal is,
is get to be on shift, and it's going to be the best job ever.
Once you get on shift, you come every day with a good attitude
and keep on pushing.
I'm definitely looking forward to getting out in the community
and seeing how everything works in the community,
how all the different entities come together.
I'm excited to work with all the guys who have been on
and be able to gain some of their knowledge
and just get out and do the job.
I'm excited.