Forsyth County Fire Department honors heroes, promotes staff, welcomes 18 firefighters

Eighteen new firefighters stepped into Forsyth County’s emergency ranks Friday, giving a fast-growing county more front-line help as leaders also promoted nine personnel and honored crews whose work had already saved lives.

The ceremony in the auditorium at North Forsyth High School combined recognition, succession planning and staffing. Forsyth County Fire Department presented seven Unit Citation awards and 10 Life Saved awards, and some of those lifesaving honors were handed directly to firefighters by the people they rescued, a rare moment that put the human cost of the job on full display.

The promotions stretched across the department’s response and support structure. Justin Lee Suggs moved up from fire lieutenant to battalion chief. Patrick Doss Anderson, Joshua Lloyd Brown, William Matthew Burtle, Brian Patrick DeStefano and Jonathan Michael McPherson were promoted to fire lieutenant. Ronald Scott Kennedy was promoted to fire instructor, Robert Lee Major to plans reviewer and Edward Walter Siggelkow to senior fire inspector.

Those moves matter beyond ceremony. Forsyth County says its fire department is responsible countywide for firefighting and emergency medical services, with a mission to protect lives, property and the environment through preparedness, prevention, mitigation and response. In a county consistently ranked among the fastest growing in the United States, every promotion and every new hire affects how quickly engines can be staffed, how much training the department can deliver and how much inspection work can keep pace with development.

The 18 recruits completed 16 weeks of intense firefighter instruction and drills, with more than 640 hours of certified fire training. Their course work covered structural fire control, interior search and rescue, flammable and combustible liquids fire control, pressurized container fire control, fire hose testing, truck and engine company operations, hazardous materials awareness and operations, vehicle extrication, public utilities gas and electric safety and terrorism awareness.

Cherokee County Assistant Fire Chief Eddie Robinson served as guest speaker and congratulated the class as it entered the profession. The county’s training standards show why that pipeline is so important: recruits must be at least 18, hold a high school diploma or GED and, after hiring, complete a 36-week firefighter and EMT certification program. Career firefighters must also complete 120 hours of Fire and EMS training each year under Georgia law, and Forsyth County requires another 120 hours on top of that.

The department’s public training facilities, including classrooms, a live-fire area, a training tower and specialty simulators, are built to keep pace with that load. Friday’s ceremony showed that Forsyth County is not just celebrating service already delivered. It is adding the people who will be expected to answer the next call faster, better trained and in greater numbers.