SAC opens First Responders Academy

Daniel Guerra has wanted to be a firefighter since he was a kid, when he and his grandfather would sit on the front porch and watch the fire engines rush past. After graduating from San Antonio College’s fire science program this spring, 21-year-old Guerra is well on his way. On Thursday, Guerra showed off his newly acquired skills at a firefighting demonstration to celebrate the grand opening of the college’s new First Responders Academy, located on 58 acres off of IH 35 South near Von Ormy.

Along with a handful of other students, Guerra squelched a fire in a junked out car and in a three-story, cinder block burn building. Though SAC’s fire science program is 40 years old, the college did not have a burn building of its own and rented or borrowed other facilities.

“For many years, we didn’t have a home,” said Robert Zeigler, president of SAC. Building one took several years.

“The bureaucracy never moved at the pace expected by rapid response firefighters,” Zeigler quipped.

The first phase of the academy cost $6.4 million and includes the burn building, 11 classrooms, a makeshift fire station and a physical fitness training facility. Future plans for the acreage include a white water rescue simulation, a driving course, a truck and train derailment site, a gym and an assortment of buildings representing apartments, shopping centers, offices and warehouses.

Once completed, the facility will attract police officers, emergency medical technicians and firefighters from around South Texas for a variety of training programs, Zeigler said. Some will be geared toward aspiring recruits, others toward veterans who need continuing education.

For volunteer fire departments in small towns like Jarret and Somerset, SAC’s program will deliver trained and certified recruits. For students hoping to get onto a paid, professional force, the program could be a springboard for success.

San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood, who attended the opening, said the city has its own burn building and requires all new recruits, no matter how experienced, to go through its training program. But Guerra, who is hoping to get onto the San Antonio force, thinks the SAC program will give him a leg up when it comes to taking the entrance test.

“It’s really hard to get into San Antonio,” Guerra said. “(The program) was fun, a lot of good instructors. I think this will help a lot.”
By Melissa Ludwig, The San Antonio Express-News

Photo by Jerry Lara, The San Antonio Express-News