Fort Worth Fire Department teams up with Tarrant County College for paramedic training course

FORT WORTH, Texas - A new partnership between the Fort Worth Fire Department and the Tarrant County College is allowing firefighters to take a course to become a paramedic while keeping their normal work schedule.

It’s first-semester training for Landen Brossett as he’s working toward his paramedic certification. It’s a stepping stone, he hopes, to a career in public service.

For Jolene Hermosillo, an EMT for more than a decade with Eagle Mountain Fire Department, it’s a matter of career advancement. 

"It’s a lot harder than I thought. I thought with the experience I already have, it would be a lot easier and it’s not. I mean it is intense," she said.

"The reason I came into this is because I want to be a firefighter medic at some station one day," Brossett said. "But after school, I might work at like Medstar just to get some more experience."

The Tarrant County College course is taking place at a new satellite campus, the Bob Bolen Safety Complex which houses the Fort Worth Fire Department. 

The new partnership benefits all involved. It is structured so it fits within the work schedules of current firefighters, and TCC was running out of space for its paramedic course offerings. 

"TCC came up with this shift-based paramedic program that allows these firefighters to continue with their 24-hour shifts on duty and at fire stations," said Fort Worth Fire Sgt. Stephen Stregint. "And then they come to class the next day so they organized that specifically."

Another major component is the collaboration serves to help fill the nationwide shortage of certified paramedics.

"The shortage is real. It’s nationwide. It’s Tarrant County. It’s local. The shortage for paramedics is very real," Stregint said.

"It’s really opened the door for me so I don’t have to sacrifice working with going to school also balancing home finances," Hermosillo said.