***MEDIA ADVISORY***

FIRE COMMISSIONER SCOPPETTA PRESIDES AT
LARGEST GRADUATION OF PARAMEDICS IN CITY HISTORY

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta will preside tomorrow at a graduation and promotion ceremony for the FDNY Emergency Medical Service which includes 80 paramedics – the largest graduation of paramedics in City history. The two graduating classes of paramedics are FDNY emergency medical technicians, including two captains and five lieutenants, who successfully completed the intense 9-month training program offered at the EMS Academy at Fort Totten in Queens. This comes at a time when major cities throughout the country are experiencing a shortage of paramedics.

Also at the ceremony, 71 emergency medical technicians will graduate after completing a rigorous 8 1/2-week training program. Of these new FDNY members, the following languages are spoken: Spanish, Cantonese, Chinese, French, Italian, Polish and Portuguese. Three of the graduates have previously served in the military.

Two EMS veterans, Katherine Fuchs and Roger Alee, also are being elevated to the rank of Deputy Chief. Both have devoted 24 years of service to the EMS Command.

Members of FDNY-EMS are provided with more advanced training than any other EMS agency in the world, including training for hazardous materials incidents. The graduates will be assigned to various EMS stations throughout the City.

Press Contact: Francis X. Gribbon & Tony Sclafani, (FDNY) (718) 999-2056

http://www.nyc.gov/fdny