There is quite a bit of training ahead, but recruit firefighter candidates Craig Huntoon and Chad Brade hope to take their places as firefighters with the Batavia City Fire Department.
Huntoon, 30, of Batavia, and Brade, 23, from Alexander, have just begun at the City of Buffalo Fire Training Academy, where they’ll be training for roughly the next 14 weeks, said city Fire Chief Stefano Napolitano. While at the Fire Department on Evans Street Friday, Huntoon and Brade talked a little about their experiences so far in Recruit Firefighter Basic Training and why they chose to pursue careers in firefighting. “Starting Monday (March 18), we’ll be starting a new discipline —another course in firematics,” Huntoon said. He said things so far in the 14-week training have gone well. Fire Chief Stefano Napolitano said, “It encompasses a multitude of topics that these gentlemen are going to need to become probationary firefighters.”