Students from École secondaire Sieur-de-Coulonge (ESSC) graduated from the province’s first high school firefighting training program with their Firefighting 1 certifications on Monday evening.

The two-year program, which began at the Mansfield high school in the fall of 2023, is the first of its kind in Quebec, and allows students to obtain their Firefighter 1 certification while enrolled in high school.

The graduation ceremony saw all 16 graduates meet at the high school where, dressed in their formal attire, they posed for photos in front of Mansfield and Fort-Coulonge firetrucks before moving into the auditorium alongside many family, friends, and members from the surrounding communities’ firefighting departments for speeches and a certificate ceremony.

Addresses were given by ESSC vice-principal Gabie Paré, MRC Pontiac public security coordinator Julien Gagnon, course instructors Martin Bertrand and Richard Pleau, Mansfield fire chief Patrick Bertrand and Fort-Coulonge assistant fire chief Gilles Dionne.

During an address from class captain Emma Rochon and assistant captain Talira Savard, they thanked all the municipalities and their departments for their support throughout their program.

“They always showed up every practice, always with trucks, always helping us,” Rochon said following the event.

Rochon said if this program had not been offered, she likely wouldn’t have found herself completing this certification.

Before taking the course, she was dead set on pursuing a post-secondary degree in sports medicine. Now, she has different plans. In the fall, she will be continuing with her first responder journey with plans to become a paramedic.

“It changed what I wanted to do,” she said.

Looking back on all the hard work, she would tell the next group planning to start in the fall that this is a really great opportunity to meet new people, have fun, and learn new things.

“It was really like a whole family,” she said.

Over the last two years, the students completed over 250 hours of theoretical and practical training, which took place partially during school hours, but mostly after school and on the weekends.

“It’s pretty rewarding,” said Martin Bertrand who is the course instructor, before the event. “I saw them grow, I saw that some of them had doubts, some of them told me, ‘It’s tough for me, I’m quitting,’ but they persevered.”

“You have to keep in mind, these students did something more than all the other students in school did, they decided to add another about 300 hours to their regular school time,” he added.

“They took the hard way, extra learning, extra reading, extra practices. I saw them grow, I saw a lot of them really mature, and have a lot of pride.”

“I’m just all around really proud,” he said.

The program also gave students the opportunity to spend time at their local fire station, learning from their environment, but also getting the chance to practice what they learned in class, Bertrand said.

These students graduated with the certifications required to serve as a firefighter in any municipality under 5,000 in the province, which includes every municipality across the Pontiac.

The course saw the students take, and pass, the same test any other firefighter in the community would have to, which is overseen by independent examiners.

“It’s a really valid, real course,” Bertrand said.

This program took a lot of collaboration from many different groups, including the school, MRC Pontiac, and the municipalities and fire departments across the Pontiac, Bertrand said, noting many local departments donated equipment, personnel, or space for the program to use.

“And for me, if there is an example of when the Pontiac gets together, making something extraordinary happen, for the better of everybody, this is a perfect example of how amazing we can be here,” Bertrand said.

In Oct. 2024 the program received a silver award in the “projet engagé” and won the “coup de coeur” (people’s choice) award at the Forces Avenir gala, an annual event that highlights students and educators’ accomplishments from across the province.

The ESSC firefighting program’s second run is set to begin this fall and will run relatively the same, except with the “added bonus” of the students who have now graduated, but still have one year of high school left, who will be able to help peer-to-peer teach the second cohort of students.

The program has expanded to Pontiac High School in Shawville, where it will be taught in part by Matt Lottes this fall.