10 Lethbridge firefighters celebrated at graduation ceremony

He led their 12-week training program and says he is proud of the progress they have made.

“Seeing them transition from where they were from when we first started to where they are now, their skills, knowledge, and general overall aptitude, it’s just very rewarding,” says Fowler.

Zakary Jantz was awarded the Thomas Kilkenny Award, which is given to the top recruit in the class. It is named after Lethbridge’s first fire chief.

He says it was a big honour to receive the award, but believes the rest of his class is talented enough that any one of them could have won it too.

It was a particularly special day for Jantz as he not only graduated and received an award, but December 2 is also his 26 birthday. He says that this was an amazing birthday present.

LNN previously spoke with Jantz in October 2022, a little over one month into his training program. At that time, the class was practicing extinguishing fires and investigating the scene afterwards.

Now, he says he looks back fondly on what has already been a challenging and rewarding journey.

“It’s been a test. It’s putting you in an uncomfortable situation and being comfortable in the uncomfortable is essentially what it’s been like,” says Jantz. “The randomness in those situations and those little surprises are really nice in getting you geared towards the job so when the day comes that we’re called upon, we can perform that much calmer.”

Jantz says he would love to become a fire chief someday and pass on everything that he has learned onto a new group of recruits.

All 10 graduates have been hired by Lethbridge Fire & EMS and are set to start their first shifts before the end of this weekend.

by David Opinko

10 Lethbridge firefighters celebrated at graduation ceremony

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