Congratulations to John Cole, our latest Firefighter 1 certified firefighter. For those of you who read our recent postings, you will recall that John comes to us from New Zealand by way of Australia, and arrived with a wealth of previous firefighting certifications, credentials and experience. Unfortunately, they didn’t translate well into the fire service credentialing process here in the States, specifically the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Fortunately, John was determined to serve his new community. With the help of our membership and the staff at Bucks County Community College, he was able to achieve his FF1 through a combination of credential acceptance and completion of certain mandatory classes, including NIMS and Haz Mat Operations, finally challenging the FF1 test at the Bucks County Fire Academy. The entire process took several months, including many phone calls and a bunch of emails to establish the pathway, and about four months to complete the training and testing.

John is a tribute to perseverance, patience and determination. We are proud of his accomplishment and look forward to serving alongside him. Well done indeed.