Congratulations
Last updated Friday, August 21, 2026 at 9:12 AM
Bucks County Community College celebrated its most recent firefighter graduates with an August 13 ceremony at the Gene and Marlene Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks. A total of 19 volunteer firefighters completed Basic Fire Academy Training at the Lower Bucks Public Safety Training Center in Croydon and earned national certifications, enabling them to help fill the critical shortage of first responders. Training included a structural burn session, fighting a controlled blaze that replicated a real-life emergency. Steve Coyle of Yardley, a volunteer with the Yardley Makefield Fire Department, was recognized for his leadership with the outstanding student award. Bucks County Community College is the largest provider of fire and emergency services training and certification in Pennsylvania, training approximately 45,000 first responders annually in all 67 counties in the Commonwealth.
Friends, family, and fellow first responders attended the graduation ceremony for the most recent firefighter graduates at Bucks County Community College’s Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks. The 19 volunteers earned national certifications to better serve their communities.
Recent graduates of Bucks County Community College’s Basic Fire Academy Training show off their certificates of completion after an August 13 ceremony at the Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks. The 19 first-responders volunteer with fire departments in Bucks and Montgomery Counties.
Steve Coyle of Yardley (center), a volunteer firefighter with the Yardley-Makefield Fire Department, earned the Outstanding Student award for his leadership among 19 first responders who graduated August 13 from Bucks County Community College’s Basic Fire Academy Training. He was congratulated after the ceremony at the Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks by Patrick M. Jones, Ph.D. (left), the College’s President and CEO, and Ronni Fuchs, Esq. (right), chair of the College’s Board of Trustees.
Volunteer firefighters prepare a ladder to fight a controlled structural burn at the Lower Bucks Public Safety Training Center in Croydon this summer. The hands-on preparation was part of Bucks County Community College’s Basic Fire Academy Training course, in which 19 first responders earned national certifications to better protect their communities.
Volunteer firefighters train a firehose on a blaze in a controlled structural burn at the Lower Bucks Public Safety Training Center in Croydon this summer. The hands-on preparation was part of Bucks County Community College’s Basic Fire Academy Training course, in which 19 first responders earned national certifications to better protect their communities.
Volunteer firefighters participate in a controlled structural burn at the Lower Bucks Public Safety Training Center in Croydon this summer. The hands-on preparation was part of Bucks County Community College’s Basic Fire Academy Training course, in which 19 first responders earned national certifications to better protect their communities.
(Photo Credit: Eric Parker, Bucks County Community College)