Two Shrewsbury Firefighters Graduate From MA Fire Academy

SHREWSBURY, MA — Shrewsbury Firefighters Christopher White and Salvatore Sassone graduated from the Massachusetts Fire Academy last week.

On Friday, Firefighters White and Sassone graduated from the 282nd class of the Massachusetts Firefighter Academy. Graduates were recognized by Fire Marshal Peter Ostroskey at the Department of Fire Services headquarters in Stow with a certificate. The academy had to forgo the ceremony typically hosted to recognize recruits in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 10-week program teaches the essentials of fire and non-fire conditions, life safety, search and rescue, ladder operations, water supply, pump operation and fire attack.

Firefighters White and Sassone are now certified at the level of Firefighter I and II and in hazardous material operation.

Both Firefighter White and Firefighter Sassone were on-call members of the department for the last several years. Firefighter White also currently serves as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserves.
Firefighter White will be assigned to Group One and and Firefighter Sassone will be assigned to Group Two.

“It’s great to see two men who grew up in Shrewsbury and graduated from Shrewsbury High School attend the academy and join our ranks,” said Chief James Vuona. “We look forward to having these young, motivated professionals back to work with us on the front line.”

In the future, Firefighters White and Sassone both plan to continue their education at the collegiate level in pursuit of a degree in fire science.