NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. - Newton County Fire Services proudly graduated 16 recruits Jan. 6 in the Newton County Historic Courthouse.

The new recruits trained for 30 weeks both in the field and in the classroom to add to the ranks of the Newton County Fire Services (NCFS).

The graduation ceremony celebrated the training of the recruits, culminating in honorees pinning NCFS badges on Newton County’s newest firefighters.

The graduates are W. Blaine Smith, Gregory Atherton, Alexander Jones, Micah McKibben, Dwight Christopher, Brayden Harper, David Huff, Yorel James, Dustin Morgan, Tyler Busbee, Caleb Compton, William Maxwell, Thomas Purser, Raif Yarborough, Dylan Brown and Bailey Spake.

Currently NCFS has 82 firefighters in the field (excluding administrative personnel) after this most recent recruit class.

This number is up significantly from the 68 firefighters in the field in August of 2017 when NCFS Chief Michael Conner was hired. NCFS continues to grow in numbers to keep up with standards and surpass minimums for fire safety. 

The new recruit class helps NCFS staff not only its current stations but also Station 8, which is expected to break ground this year.