Orland Fire District swears-in 10 new firefighters

Orland Fire District swears-in 10 new firefighters

OFPD swears-in 10 recruits hired last year at ceremonies held May 12, 2015.

The Orland Fire Protection District this month began a year-long training for nine recruits hired to fill existing department vacancies, and officially swore-in 10 recruits hired last year.

The 10 recruits who completed more than a year of training are Brian Paliga, James Logan, Jason Postma, Justin Dublin, Kory Tuburan, Mark Hogan, Martin Majda, Matt Giermala, Matthew Hoover, and Steven Prohaska.

The swearing-in ceremony was held on Tuesday May 12, 2015 at the Orland Fire Protection District’s Training Facility, 10728 W. 163rd Place in Orland Park.

Fire Chief Ken Brucki said the 10 recruits have earned their positions in the OFPD, noting that they recently completed an intensive, year-long training program.

Leading the training for the OFPD are Lt. David Piper, the Training & Safety Officer, and Mike Seifert and Carl Jones, both firefighters and graduates of the district’s training academy program.

Brucki said new firefighter recruits are evaluated in a variety of fire and emergency simulations including fighting fires, rescue and equipment management. Every OFPD recruit must be professionally trained both as a firefighter and as a paramedic, he said.

“The recruits train 8 hours every day. Their day begins with a regimented exercise program to help eliminate injuries caused by muscle strains & sprains, which is one of the most frequent injuries firefighters experience,” Brucki said.

Training included a specific series of exercises. They included fighting a fire on the first floor of the Training Centers fire range. Teams of trainees, led by instructors, covered each of the key areas, connecting the hoses to the fire hydrant, scoping out the scene to identify any civilians in the building, and coordinating the response to the fire and smoke. One team approached to extinguish the fire, a second team climbed to the building’s roof to perform ventilation, while another scaled the building via ground ladders from the front to “rescue” several “victims.”

On hand for the ceremonies were officials of the OFPD District, board trustees including President Jim Hickey and trustees John Brudnak, Jayne Schirmacher, Chris Evoy and Blair Rhode, and members of the recruits’ families.

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Ray Hanania

Blogger, Columnist at Illinois News Network Online

Ray Hanania is senior blogger for the Illinois News Network news site. He is an award winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist who covered the beat from 1976 through 1992 (From Mayor Daley to Mayor Daley). And, Hanania is a stubborn and loud critic of the biased mainstream American news media.

Hanania Chicago political beats and Chicago City Hall at the Daily Southtown Newspapers (1976-1985) and the Chicago Sun-Times (1985-1992). He published the The Villager Community Newspapers covering 12 Southwest suburban regions (1993-1997). Hanania also hosted live political news radio talkshows on WLS AM (1980 - 1991), and also on WBBM FM, WLUP FM, WSBC AM in Chicago, and WNZK AM in Detroit.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media;In 2009, he received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. Hanania has also received two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild, and in 1990 was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

Hanania’s writings have been published in newspapers around the world. He currently is syndicated through Creators Syndicate. He has written for the Jerusalem Post, YNetNews.com, Newsday in New York, the Orlando Sentinel, the Houston Chronicle, The Daily Star of Lebanon, the News of the World in London, the Daily Yomimuri in Tokyo, Chicago Magazine, the Arlington Heights Daily Herald, The Saudi Gazette, the Arab News in Jeddah, and Aramco Magazine.

Hanania's Chicagoland columns are published in the Southwest News-Herald, the Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News and the Palos Reporter newspapers.

He is President/CEO of Urban Strategies Group media and public affairs consulting which has clients in Illinois, Florida, Michigan and Washington D.C.

His personal website is www.TheMediaOasis.com. Email him at: [email protected].

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