Honolulu CC to graduate 19 fire and emergency response recruits

"The Dragon Slayers" to be honored in special ceremony

Honolulu Community College
Contact:
Billie K. Takaki Lueder, (808) 845-9187
Public Relations Coordinator
Posted: May 5, 2011

Fire students simulating a car fire scenario.
Fire students simulating a car fire scenario.
HONOLULU - The Fire and Environmental Emergency Response (FIRE) Program at Honolulu Community College will be holding its Firefighter Recruit Academy Commencement Ceremony entitled ‘The Dragon Slayers’.
 
Monday, May 9, 2011
12 noon to 1:30 p.m.
Norman W.H. Loui Center, Bldg. 2, Room 201
874 Dillingham Boulevard
 
Nineteen (19) trainees will graduate as fully trained and certified level 1 firefighters completing their capstone Firefighter-1 course in their final semester, a 16 credit course with two components that consist of an on-line virtual classroom experience to develop cognitive knowledge and competency-based skills training and testing to National Fire Protection Association standards. 
 
FIRE students learn to function as integral members of a firefighting team as well as earn five certificates in: CPR, Emergency Medical Service-First Responder or EMT-Basic, Hazardous Materials Awareness and Operations and Firefighter-1.
 
“As a former federal fire trainer, it was apparent that FIRE recruits from Honolulu Community College had the foundational skills and theory for the job that others didn’t have making them more competitive and better qualified to be successful fire fighters on the job,” shares lead Honolulu CC FIRE instructor, Chief Richard S. Rhode. 
 
Many of these recruits have applied to Fire Service organizations, both locally and nationally. The FIRE Program provides students with entry level skills or in-service professional development preparing students for jobs in the Fire Service field, such as: fire inspector, fire investigator, insurance adjuster, and safety and building inspector.
 
Successful graduates from the Honolulu CC FIRE Program include current lead instructor, Richard S. (Scotty) Rhode, fire chief at Sasebo Navy Base in Japan; Kenneth Silva, fire chief of the Honolulu Fire Department; Glenn deLaura, fire chief-Federal Fire Department on O‘ahu; and retired fire chief of the Honolulu Fire Department, Attilio Leonardi. 
 
Honolulu CC is the first community college in the UH System to offer an associate in applied science degree in fire science.