Meet the 10 new firefighters joining Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One

Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One has hired 10 new firefighters, three of them lateral transfers from other departments.

All 10 are currently undergoing training, called operational academy, with Gig Harbor veterans, said Tina Curran, the district information officer. The six-week course is designed to introduce the new firefighters to the practices and procedures of the Gig Harbor district.

The seven trainee firefighters recently completed a 10-week basic academy at Bates Vocational-Training Institute. After they have completed the operational academy, the will take GHMO’s in-house EMT course and then be assigned to shifts on one of the districts’ Medic One units. Every new firefighter serves at least a year in a medic unit, according to Calvin Johnson, chief of the medical division.

The three lateral hires will be assigned to shifts in mid-September. They are Colin Koch, from the Tukwila Fire Department, Nicholas Truckey from the Anacortes Fire Department, and Ryan Watson, from Graham Fire & Rescue.

The new entry-level firefighters are Ben Bare, Zane Holland, Genward (George) Hwang, Cody Jagodinski, Helena (Lena) Moreno, Dana Pirolo, and Adam Thomsen. They’ll join shifts sometime in November and be on probation until that month in 2022.

The new hires will bring the district to a total of 111 total firefighters , including 88 firefighter/emergency medical technicians, 21 firefighter/paramedics and seven battalion or division chiefs.

Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One, formally known as Pierce County Fire District 5, serves the city of Gig Harbor and most of the surrounding area. It has nine fire stations and answers about 6,000 calls a year, most of them for medical service.

This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 12:39 PM.