By JILL FANKHAUSER
Alaska Star

The Chugiak Volunteer Fire Department graduated a new group of 12 firefighters June 24 at the Latimer Fire Station.

After 140 hours of twice weekly classroom lessons and Sunday practicum sessions over three months, the class got their certificates from CVFD Chief Bruce Bartley, community members and Assistant Chief Tom Reinbolt.

“This was a particularly dedicated and determined group,” Reinbolt said.

“Normally we have a higher attrition rate because people are not really putting in the effort,” Bartley said. “Some people think all it takes is brute strength and to be courageous, but there’s a lot more to it. It takes an education.”

The Firefighting 1 course is offered once a year or every other year, depending on the number of people who are interested in training. The training covers firefighting strategy and tactics, hazardous material response, water supply and building construction.

Each candidate is now qualified to get on a fire truck and fight blazes for the Chugiak department - and credentialed to firefight anywhere in Alaska.

In addition to getting her firefighting certificate, graduate Maribeth Russell became the 331st member of CVFD. Russell, 22, has been with the department for a year and completed a one-year probation period.

She took an oath to serve the department and received a gleaming sliver badge.

Russell, who weighs about 130 pounds and is 5 feet, 4 inches tall, has grown accustomed to wearing 60 pounds of gear - including turnouts, a protective coat and pants and an air pack. She said she’s stronger mentally and physically than she was a year ago.

“It was a lot of work, but I had a lot of fun,” she said.

Russell said her hardest day was when she had to chop a large vent hole on top of a training structure roof at Latimer Station.

“You do not know how hard it is chopping through that plywood,” she said. “Halfway through I was so tired, but I just kept going and pushing myself and I got through - but it was hard.”

On top of training to be a firefighter, Russell completed a year’s worth of 12-hour duty shifts on nights and weekends. She does it because she loves it, she said.

“I just really wanted to do something to help the community - that’s it,” Russell said. “I like going out and doing the work.”

To beef-up her fitness, Russell partnered up with another department member to run 3 miles a day and lift weights.

“Anytime I felt like I wasn’t strong enough do something … you just don’t give up and keep working on it,” Russell said.

When she’s not at the stationhouse, Russell, a Birchwood resident, is waiting tables at Eagle River’s Garcia’s Cantina & Cafe and bartending at McGinley’s Pub in downtown Anchorage.

She credits her employers with giving her the flexibility to train and work on her associate’s degree in fire science at University of Alaska Anchorage. Russell is set to wrap up her schooling next winter.

Russell plans to apply to the Anchorage Fire Department during its next testing and application period to become a paid firefighter.

This year’s class joins 26 current CVFD firefighter members.

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, July 2, 2009.