Fire department bolstered with four new recruits
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

Roosevelt residents Kevin Balon (l-r), Chris Suk, April Fierro and John Lenart expect to graduate from the Monmouth County Fire Academy and join the borough's fire department this summer.

With extensive training under their belts, four new firefighters are ready to serve Roosevelt.

The borough will soon welcome Chris Suk, John Lenart, Kevin Balon and April Fierro into its fire department. The four new members are due to complete their training this week at the Monmouth County Fire Academy in Howell.

Mayor Beth Battel congratulates all of the soon-to-be graduates.

"All of our citizens appreciate the effort and time they selflessly contribute to our community," she said.

Battel said the borough is also proud that Fierro is continuing the tradition of having lady firefighters in Roosevelt.

When the first settlers of Jersey Homesteads - now known as Roosevelt - created its volunteer fire department in 1937, resident Augusta Chasan stepped forward with about 20 men to participate. Although an article in a local paper at that time questioned whether a woman could perform the duties of a firefighter, Chasan went through training and out on fire calls.

For Fierro, 30, volunteerism is second nature. She has a 10-year-old daughter, Corrine, and is very active with Girl Scouts.

Fierro serves as Girl Scout leader of Junior Troop 913. She is also a registrar consultant for the East Windsor Area Girl Scouts, as well as a delegate for the Girl Scouts of Delaware-Raritan Inc.

Fierro said she moved to the borough two years ago from East Windsor, and that one of her criteria for finding a home was for it to fall within the boundaries of her Girl Scout service area.

With regard to going through firefighter training, Fierro said that everyone involved has made sacrifices. She said that Balon's wife is pregnant, Lenhart gave up a season of coaching baseball, and when Suk signed up he was already working six days a week.

"I wouldn't have been able to get through it without the help of my neighbors baby-sitting Corrine on Thursday nights," Fierro said, "and just the overall support we all received from the fire department, members of the [Borough] Council and supportive people in town."

Fierro said the four firefighters will not only graduate with Firefighter I certification, but that during the course of the class they also completed the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Terrorism Awareness certification, Incident Command Systems 100 (IS-100) and 700 (IS-700), and

HazMat Awareness and HazMat Operations certifications from the N.J. State Police. The new firefighters will also be certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

"All in all, we leave class with six or seven certifications under our belt," she said.

Fierro said the class the group took was the first one at the Monmouth County Fire Academy that used the new Delmar manuals, which are the newly instituted statewide standards for all emergency medical service (EMS) volunteers.

"In Monmouth County, we were the guinea pigs to see how the new class went," she said.

According to Fierro, previous classes had a small, 100-page workbook as their text, while as part of the class they received a more than 700-page college-equivalent textbook, a workbook, an annex, a 200-page FEMA book and several other guides that are smaller.

"During the class," she recalled, "we did search and rescue, ladder use and care, hose use and care, hooking up to hydrants, hooking up to the trucks, aerial ladders, proper protocol when dealing with electricity and gas leaks, and of course the best part was when we did the live burns."

She said the four firefighters agree that the live burn training day was the best day there.

"They took small teams into the smokehouse, lit bales of hay on fire, and we sat and waited, watched the smoke grow, the room get blacker and blacker, watched the fire begin to roll over, and then had to ventilate and put the fire out," she said. "I had no idea how black the smoke was until I actually was in a real working fire."

She said there were 36 people per class when training began, but that by graduation less than 20 students in each class remained.

"Our instructors told us there is generally a 33-percent dropout rate," she said.

In order to pass, students had to show up to every class on time. If someone missed a class, according to Fierro, that person would not be able to graduate.

In addition, candidates had to carry out all drills properly and pass a final exam of 100 questions. She said all the volunteers from the borough scored high on the final test.

Fierro said the instructors were excellent, especially Armand Guzzi.

"I looked forward to all of our classes because of him," she said. "He really made the entire experience - as exhausting as it was - a whole lot of fun."

Fierro gives the greatest credit for her success to her fellow Roosevelt students.

"The support of Chris, Kevin and John is really what kept me going through the whole thing," she said. "I think the fact that we were all there to feed off each other, commiserate with each other and push each other to do our best is really why we all did such a great job.

"I know that sense of camaraderie will continue as we work to whip the fire company back into shape," she added.