GILROY
– So, you think you’d like to be a firefighter? If so, you can
find out more about what it takes to join the profession at a free,
one-day class on May 1.
GILROY – So, you think you’d like to be a firefighter? If so, you can find out more about what it takes to join the profession at a free, one-day class on May 1.
The Gilroy Fire Department and the Santa Clara County Black Firefighters Association will co-host the all-day class, called “ABCs of becoming a firefighter.”
The lead presenter will be Russell Hayden, new to the GFD as an education specialist, but a 31-year founding member and president of the Black Firefighters Association. Other speakers will include GFD Division Chief Charles Hurley, Hayden said.
The class is for those who are want to learn more about becoming professional firefighters, paid-call firefighters or fire department volunteers, Hayden said.
The goal of the class is “to get a person prepared to take the (firefighting) test … and all the things to do in life to prepare you to take the test,” Hayden said.
This means knowing about the test itself, with its written, physical and oral exams, but Hayden said he also wants to emphasize the kinds of lifestyle choices one should make if one wants to be a firefighter, such as avoiding drugs and crime.
Although there is no age limit, Hayden said the class is aimed at people aged 16 and older.
The class will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 1 at the Wheeler Auditorium, 250 W. Sixth St.
Check-in will be from 8 to 9 a.m. that Saturday; there is no preregistration. Hayden recommended people arrive early, as similar classes in the past have been full. Only the first 300 people will be admitted, and no one will be admitted after 9 a.m.
Participants are advised to bring a lunch and dress casually.
There is no charge, but the Black Firefighters Association will welcome optional $10 donations to support its Mini Fire Engine Project, a showpiece in firefighter exhibitions.
Hayden himself had never been in a fire station or known a firefighter before 1969, when a white professor picked him up as he was hitchhiking south along Interstate 280 toward San Jose.
The professor asked if he was working or in school, to which Hayden answered no. The next question was, “Would you like to join the fire service?”
Hayden said yes, and the professor immediately dropped him off at Foothill College and the Los Altos Hills fire station to fill out an application as a student firefighter.
He later became a fulltime firefighter in Los Altos Hills and moved on to the San Jose Fire Department.
Hayden helped found the Black Firefighters Association in 1973. Among its chief mandates are to educate the public about the fire service and attract more minorities to the profession.
For more information, call the Gilroy Fire Department at 846-0372 or the Santa Clara County Black Firefighters Association at 947-1022.
