Douglas County graduated its first class of 10 fire fighters from the new Fire Department Training Complex Thursday night, followed by a public open house and fire demonstrations.

The 6 p.m. ceremony included speeches by Fire Chief Scott Spencer and Commission Chairman Tom Worthan. Spencer and Deputy Chief Kim Ransom awarded badges to the new recruits and administered the oath of office.

“You’re joining one of the finest professional organizations in the state and country,” Worthan told the class. “You should be proud to join such an organization.”

Graduates included Matthew Allen, Jean Baca, Wayne Baker, Derek Cogland, Scot Damroze, Paul Holmes, Joann Kuerner, Tracy Peringer, Shawn Prewett and Jamal Wilson.

After the ceremony, visitors toured the facility and watched demonstrations of fires set in four different props used to teach fire fighting. These included a dumpster, an automobile, a liquid petroleum (LP) gas tank and a flammable liquid pit.

Spencer said the new complex gives Douglas County firefighters the ability to get live fire and other specialized training in controlled settings. Previously, county firefighters had to travel to Forsyth, Georgia to receive this training.

County officials are hopeful the new complex will also generate revenue by renting it to other metro Atlanta fire and rescue units which don’t have their own training facilities.

The rookie class graduated Thursday has completed Georgia Firefighter I and II requirements which include 240 hours of classroom and skills instruction, 16 hours of GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Agency) vehicle extraction course and 40 hours of hazardous materials awareness and operations.

All class members received passing scores on the written and skills tests. The skills tests involve live burning on the four exterior props and five live structural burns in the burns building.