PHOTO: Graduates of the Hybrid Fire Academy Class 9 pose for a photo with their instructors at the Victoria Community Center.

The Victoria Fire Department has been working to recruit additional firefighters for some time now. Since Fire Chief George Gamez took over leadership of the department in Feb. 2024, he has been focused on finding new and innovative ways to strengthen the department.  

VFD is always looking for new recruits who want to serve, but along with external solutions, Gamez sought out an internal one. Rather than relying solely on hiring new firefighters, the VFD decided to create an in-house Hybrid Fire Academy for employees who could serve as both firefighters and paramedics or emergency medical technicians (EMTs).

“We saw Victoria College graduating EMT classes all the time, so we thought, ‘Why don’t we target EMTs that maybe want to be firefighters?’” Gamez said. “The goal is to train them up and allow them to pick which side they want to go on, the fire or EMS side, but now we are going to have more firefighters.”

For class valedictorian Allyson Vondran, her desire to become a certified firefighter came from already being a member of VFD. As a paramedic, she regularly responded to fire calls, but she felt limited in how she could contribute. 

“I didn’t like going out on fire calls and not being able to help or not know what was going on,” Vondran said. “I really wanted to help the guys at my station, train with them, and I see the community that they have and I want to be a part of that.”

Vondran led a unique graduating class composed entirely of women who were already serving with the Victoria Fire Department. Vondran serves the department as one of its paramedic crew leaders alongside fellow graduates Jade Karl and Lisa Coultas. Meanwhile, Cassie Garza and Lindsey Sheffel each serve as EMTs. 

Ultimately, fire department leaders are hoping that they may have found a new, more efficient way to train firefighters. Each of the graduates of Class 9 did their coursework online and came in on various times either on the weekend or when they weren’t working to do their skills assessments. 

“This was the plan; we talked about it and we were pretty confident in it,” Gamez said. “We were going to hire these EMTs, let them get acclimated to how VFD works, and once they’re rooted in it we’d start the academy as their proving ground, and I think it went rather well.”

While this did help solve an immediate need for VFD, fire department leaders hope that the hybrid classes and EMT-to-firefighter pathway will be utilized regularly moving forward, with VFD creating quality firefighters for the community at a higher rate than ever before.

“We wanted to create something that we could bring to a wider scope and a wider audience,” Gamez said. “This is going to be something moving forward that we will offer not only to our own people, but open it up to the outside as well.”