MA Department Adds 35 Firefighters Despite Pandemic

Editor's note: Find Firehouse.com's complete coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic here.

QUINCY, MA—When they started training three months ago, they lived in a whole different world, but now Quincy's newest firefighters are ready to get to work.

Quincy's fire department recently graduated 34 new firefighter and emergency medical technician recruits from a city-run academy after weeks of training that started before the coronavirus pandemic put the state into a lock down. The new graduates, and one already trained firefighter, will be spread across the city's eight fire stations once they are cleared through COVID-19 testing.

Training Capt. Joe Barron Jr. said it was one of the city's largest classes ever.

Barron said the coronavirus pandemic created some logistical headaches, and the class, which finished up last week, wasn't able to hold a graduation ceremony. Barron said between the state's restrictions and daily training, the recruits were being told what to do day and night.

"Despite the circumstances, it didn't affect their preparation and effort," Barron said.

The recruits trained at the shuttered St. Mary's school and rectory in West Quincy, turning the rectory basement into a classroom and school classrooms into a number of obstacles. Barron said that firefighters also created a maze in the building to train the new recruits on navigating through a burning building. Barron credits his department for the hard work of tuning the school into a training facility.

The training took months of planning, Barron said, and two weeks in they had to start figuring things out on the fly as the state started to restrict certain activities. The department's academy was allowed to keep working to train the new firefighters, who will start filling vacancies created over the past few years. The city also received a federal grant to increase the minimum staffing on several engines.

Barron said that the recruits and six instructors, who have been together for the last 12 weeks, are all being tested for the virus before going on the job.

"It was good foresight on the chief's part," Barron said. "The last thing you want is for one of these guys to accidentally be detrimental to a fire station."

Despite the trying circumstances, Brian Mingolelli said Sunday, when he is slated to start, "can't come soon enough."

"This is a job of a lifetime," Mingolelli said.

Originally from Weymouth, Mingolelli said he's always wanted to be a firefighter and follow in the steps of his father Richard Mingolelli, a Boston firefighter killed by an on-duty injury in 1999.

He said that training "was unbelievable," and included a fire simulator with a weighted hose that had a laser tip to help train on putting out fires. Brian Mingolelli will be placed at the West Quincy station on Engine 5. Mingolelli said he had some of the usual jitters of starting a new job, but felt prepared to help keep the city safe.

The new graduates are David A. Atkins; Jon E. Banuk; Jeffrey Belovarac; Ryan C. Brennan; Matthew C. Brouillard; Brian C. Byrne; Matthew D. Cardarelli; James Cedrone; Shawn P. Clancy; Robert J. Connell; Evan C. Darcy; Justin T. Drum; David Duong; James M. Fitzpatrick; Brendan J. Forde; Shawn C. Grady; Michael P. Granahan; Austin Granger; Tyler S. Lagrotteria; Mitchell Law; Matthew Lawlor; Nicholas H. Manning; Collin D. McCarthy; Brian R. Mingolelli; Andrew R. Moccia; James E. Mullaney; Roy R. Muller; Rory M. Mulrey; Derek A. Murphy; Benjamin Ronan; Alfred Ronan; James Vialpando; Derek J. White and Eric Wiessmeyer.

———

Visit The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, Mass. at www.patriotledger.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.