Farmersville Fire Depart­ment has graduated its first-ever Fire and EMS Academy class.

The class concluded Tues­day, Feb. 11 after beginning Oct. 15, 2019. Class members were Jacob Nagel, Colton Fred­erick, Clay Hibbitts, Peyton Claterbaugh, Kyle Leonard, Deborah Beideck, Kyli Alva­rez and Griffin Connor. They represented the communities of Farmersville, Josephine and Leonard.

Staff members who assisted include Assistant Chief Kevin Lisman, EMS School Admin­istrator Mike Hudson, EMS Coordinator Joseph Brigan­di, Primary Instructor Dan Tripp, Skills Assistant James Vaughn, Skills Assistant R.J. Grantham, Skills Assistant Na­than Hawkins, Fire Chief Kim Morris and Secondary Instruc­tor Russell Chandler.

“We had a class last year through an outside company but had some problems with using an outside source,” Lis­man said. “We thought it best to use our own and be responsible for our own paperwork.”

After successfully con­ducting Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) training within the fire department, of­ficials decided to tackle Emer­gency Medical Technician (EMT) training next, which is a step up.

During the class, they taught anatomy, physiology, trauma and behavioral emergencies.

According to Lisman, the second class will start April 2 and wrap up in July.

“I just want to grow it and make it bigger,” Lisman said. “I hope to continue building on the program.”

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