GREENFIELD — It certainly wasn’t a comfortable moment. Dressed in full firefighting gear, including mask and air tank, Eliezer Rivera was trapped inside the long electrical box on the floor of the training facility shelter.
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The container is lined with electrical wires, trapping firefighters who have to learn how to keep their cool as they cut through the obstacles to escape. It’s all about better preparing themselves should they ever become trapped inside a blaze.
It’s one of the many training drills the new group of seven firefighter recruits is going through during their five-week orientation classes before they become official Greenfield Fire Territory firefighters in 2020.
For Rivera, 30, Indianapolis, training to be a firefighter has been a lifelong goal. He was born in Puerto Rico, served in the United States Army as a medic and hoped one day he’d end up serving others full time as a firefighter. Before being hired by Greenfield, he was a civilian paramedic. Now, he gets to be what he’s dreamed of.
“I was always looking at things from the outside, but I knew this is what I wanted to do,” Rivera said. “I’m hoping to grow some roots here.”
He’ll come on board as a firefighter/paramedic.
The department holds these types of recruit classes when numbers are low and they need to hire. Now is one of those times.
The recruits’ instructor, Lt. Scott Elliott, a 12-year veteran, is working hard to train the seven men, who range in age from 21 to 30. When they finish, the Greenfield Fire Territory will have 48 firefighters.
Four of the new firefighters will replace four people who left, and three are new hires designed to expand the department after the city council approved the expenditure.
“It’s a good start, but we sure could use more,” public information officer Corey Breese said.
The fire territory already has lost two firefighters to other departments since the new recruit class started a few weeks ago.
While this is Elliott’s first year to work as a new recruit class instructor, he said things have been going great. Elliott and others in the fire department started training the new recruits in mid-November. They’ll wrap up the classes on Dec. 26.
Once the recruits complete the five-week training, they’ll be evaluated by veteran firefighters and placed onto shifts by Chief James Roberts while they go through a probationary period.
For now, the recruits are putting in eight-hour days, starting with physical training, followed by learning basic operations such as handling hoses; ventilation; search and rescue; and learning about fire behavior.
“This class is five weeks, but it needs to be about 35 weeks with all the things we cover,” Elliott said.
For many of the recruits, the training is like nothing they’ve ever seen. Still, Elliott noted, much of it is just skimming the surface.
“They’ll get their full meal deal once they get assigned to a shift, but they’re doing well,” Elliott said.
For one of the recruits, Luke Eichholtz, 27, Indianapolis, becoming a firefighter is an ideal job. Eichholtz earned an exercise science degree at Indiana University, and worked in his family’s restaurant business before going after a job that suits him well.
He played football and hockey in high school and loves the physical challenge being a firefighter requires.
“I’ve always had an immense amount of respect for the profession,” Eichholtz said. “I’m big into fitness and wellness, so I just knew this was what I had to do.”
He’s already an emergency medical technician and is planning to take classes to become a paramedic, but he said he’ll do whatever the department asks of him.
Elliott knows it’s not only the recruits who are excited about the new hands coming on board. The fresh energy will be welcomed by all the veterans, he said.
As part of the department’s tradition of training and helping the recruits bond, the group has taken an older piece of firefighting equipment that is no longer being used and is refurbishing it. Once the recruits complete the project, they’ll present it to Chief Roberts when their training is done. For now, details remain a secret.
“It’s helped build a lot of camaraderie with our group already,” Eichholtz said.
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