Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, Schools Superintendent Dr. Sonia Dinnall, Fire Commissioner BJ Calvi, Captain Martin Burgos, and members of the Springfield Fire Department (SFD) joined this morning with Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical Academy (Putnam) Carpentry Instructor Gerard Stroeder and six Putnam Carpentry Shop students for a special training demonstration at the Mason Square Fire Station.
Students from the Putnam Carpentry Shop helped build training props that simulate entanglement hazards for firefighters as well as hose deployment props. These props are utilized for fire ground safety training. Our brave and dedicated firefighters demonstrated how to free themselves from the entanglements on Wednesday at the Mason Square Fire Station.
Mayor Sarno, Schools Superintendent Dinnall, and Fire Commissioner Calvi thanked the students, faculty, and staff from the Putnam Carpentry Shop for their work to support SFD training programs.
Commissioner Calvi commended the students on their work, which was high quality. SFD and Putnam Academy have a longstanding relationship and these tools and props are crucial to the training of our firefighters. Of note, two recent hires in the SFD as Master Mechanics are Putnam Academy grads who interned with the Fire Department while still in high school. Fire Commissioner Calvi is a proud graduate of a vocation high school, and Captain Burgos is a proud Putnam alum himself.
Dr. Dinnall noted that our students are learning the skills and expertise to solve real world problems. Carpentry Instructor Gerard Stroeder shared that the Carpentry Shop at Putnam loves getting involved in projects throughout the city with Parks, Police, Facilities, Fire, and truly love supporting the important work of our first responders.
Mayor Sarno states, “This is a fantastic collaboration where our students, our future leaders, are honing their skills from Carpentry Shop while supporting the great work our Springfield Fire Department to keep us all safe. We’ve also been able to hire some young men and women right from Putnam to work in carpentry or mechanics here in the city. Special shout out to Daniel who spoke on behalf of the class today. These students have bright futures ahead armed with the skills to solve real world problems. I commend and thank Commissioner BJ Calvi and team for staying up on all trainings and practices while also introducing our students to the many facets of this field of work.”
Mayor Sarno continued, “I also want to commend Principal Johnson, all of the students, staff, teachers, and parents at Putnam Academy – every time I visit the school, the grounds, hallways, and classrooms are immaculate. You should be very proud of yourselves for maintaining such an excellent environment, and we appreciate Putnam Carpentry’s contributions to our public safety and fire training."
