Two newly certified firefighters were added to the roster of Han-Le-Co Volunteer Fire Company at a recent graduation ceremony. The were members of the 2014 class of Lehigh County candidates who participated in a rigorous Bucks County Fire Academy training course.

Forty-seven volunteers from 19 area fire companies completed the rigorous training.

William Hummel and Amanda Lutz are now on the roster as certified firefighters at the Han-Le-Co Volunteer Fire Company in Hanover Township.

Dillon Hartranft, Kyle Hartranft and Shawn Savercool, all of the Catasauqua Fire Department, also completed the course and earned the certification, but were not in attendance at the graduaton ceremony.

The certification course lasted six months, including 194 hours of instruction. They received their certificates of completion at a ceremony held June 25 at Lower Macungie Community Center.

This was the fourth annual Bucks County Fire Academy course. Students attended sessions held every Sunday and Wednesday at the Allentown Fire Department Fire Academy at the Allentown Fire Department's Mack Station at 1902 Lehigh St., near the Queen City Airport.

The local course was initiated in 2011 by Lower Macungie Fire Chief Dave Nosal, in cooperation with the Bucks County Fire Academy, so that training for the volunteers could be held in Lehigh County, rather than having the volunteers travel an hour-and-a-half each way, twice a week, to the Bucks County training and classroom locations.

The training also entailed live-burn training and testing on several Saturdays during the period.

The class involved 112 hours of developing firefighting skills as well as instruction in lifesaving and first aid skills.

The Firefighter 1 training course also taught the volunteers how to recognize, evaluate and deal with hazardous materials incidents.

The Hazmat training covered events as small as an antifreeze spill at a motor vehicle accident to incidents as intimidating as weapons of mass destruction.

Lead instructor for the training was Justin DeLong, a state-certified fire educator, as well as deputy chief of the Emmaus Fire Department.

Troy Raab, of Coopersburg, also was a certified instructor for the volunteers.

Nosal said the course included building construction; basic interior firefighting; fire behavior; forcible entry; personal safety equipment; self-contained breathing apparatus; ropes and knots; search and rescue; vehicle fire; wildland fire; hazardous materials; and the structural live-burn sessions.

Nosal said the certification earned by the 47 candidates was portable and those who complete the course are entered into a national database, and that most states recognize the certification for fire departments in their jurisdiction.

Candidates were from the following fire departments: Alburtis, Catasauqua, Cetronia, Eastern Salisbury, Emerald, Emmaus, Germansville, Greenawalds, Han-Le-Co, Lower Macungie, New Tripoli, Schnecksville, Topton, Trexlertown, Tri-Clover, Upper Macungie, Upper Saucon, Western Salisbury and Whitehall.