Bordentown's Three Newest Firefighters Graduate from Burlington County Fire Academy

WESTAMPTON, NJ — Consolidated Fire Association is celebrating the achievement of its newest firefighters, as they graduated this week from the Burlington County Fire Academy.

George Kalargheros, Ryan Engler and Franklin Engler were among the 30 new firefighters welcomed to the ranks of the Burlington County Fire Service during the Fire Academy’s Graduation and Certificate Ceremony, which took place on July 16 at the Westampton campus of the Burlington County Institute of Technology.

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The graduation ceremony was the culmination of the cadets’ training at the Burlington County Emergency Services Training Center's Firefighter 1 program, which consisted of more than 220 hours of instruction and training. Each of the cadets also passed the New Jersey Firefighter Certification exam.

Several cadets received honors for their accomplishments during their training, including Kalargheros, who was awarded with the Army Specialist Benjamin Moore Award for the most improved cadet. The award was named after Bordentown City resident Benjamin Moore, who served as both a firefighter and as an EMT for Hope Hose Humane Company No. 1 of Bordentown City . A 2006 graduate of Bordentown Regional High School, Moore joined the U.S. Army in April 2009 and was killed in action on January 12, 2011 in Ghazni Province at the age of 23 while serving in Afghanistan with the 693rd Sapper Company, 7th Engineer Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division.

Other honorees included Megan Lontoc of the Hainesport Fire Department, who received the Academic Achievement Award and Anthony Rodriguez of the Tabernacle Fire Department, who received the Chief William D. Constantine Leadership Award.

The ceremony was attended by elected officials and fire officials from around Burlington County and the State of New Jersey, including Burlington County Commissioner Deputy Director Dan O’Connell, Commissioner Allison Eckel, Burlington County Director of Public Safety Gary Gubbei and Fire Academy Senior Instructor Al Desjardins.

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"This is what it means to be a firefighter. You run towards danger while others run the other way," Eckel said. "On behalf of the Burlington County Board of Commissioners, I want to thank you and all our county’s firefighters, EMS personnel and first responders for serving our communities."

The graduation ceremony's featured speaker was New York City Firefighter Marc Dore, a Palmyra native and former volunteer firefighter who graduated from the Burlington County Fire Academy before he moved to New York and joined the FDNY. Despite his first shift slated to be on September 13, 2001, he responded to Ground Zero on September 11 when he learned that two planes had crashed into the Twin Towers. He worked the next 13 hours as a volunteer.

“One of the toughest things I’ve ever experienced in my life,” he told the graduates. “My toughest day was my first day.”

Senior Instructor Desjardins was honored at the ceremony for his 40 years of service as fire instructor at the Burlington County Emergency Services Training Center. While he plans to step down as the lead instructor at the Academy, he will continue to serve as a fire instructor.

For more information about programs offered by the Burlington County Emergency Services Training Center, visit https://www.co.burlington.nj.us/205/Emergency-Services-Training-Center .

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