05/08/2025
Today is a BIG day on campus! Help us congratulate today's graduates!
State Fire Academy Graduates 17 in May.
The South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation’s South Carolina Fire Academy graduated 17 recruits, Thursday, May 8, 2025, from its eight-week firefighter candidate school in Columbia. These firefighters underwent a 320-hour training program of classroom and hands-on firefighting skills development. The keynote speaker was Asst. Chief of Fire Operations Sean Wargny, City of West Columbia.
“Today, we celebrate graduation and welcome these new members to the South Carolina fire service,” State Fire Academy Superintendent Jason Pope said. “The past eight weeks have been a challenging program requiring commitment, passion, and dedication. These recruits have worked together as a team, performed extensive hands-on training with live fires, and passed intensive practical skills evaluations and written tests to meet the National Fire Protection Association standards.”
The comprehensive training, offered quarterly at the Fire Academy, includes emergency responder first aid training, hazardous materials operations training, auto extrication, flammable liquids and gas firefighting, rescue training, and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Firefighter I and Firefighter II levels.
“From this day on, these new firefighters will be dedicating their lives to serving their communities and the state,” Pope said. “All of us at State Fire are proud of their accomplishments. I also want to commend the dedicated Fire Academy instructors who brought the recruits through these weeks of instruction leading to graduation.”
