RRFR graduates 16 cadets from fire academy

RIO RANCHO — The latest class of cadets with Rio Rancho Fire & Rescue Academy have run into burning buildings and run with one another wearing their bunker gear as the sun beat down on them. But their graduation from the 20-week program is by no means the end of something, RRFR Chief James Wenzel told them Friday; it is the beginning of everything.

Wenzel, who became fire chief last summer, gave the 16 cadets of Academy 22 that stirring message during their graduation ceremony at the Church of Vision Event Center in Rio Rancho.

“Cadets, as of this moment, you are now firefighters,” Wenzel said. “You’ve earned the right to stand here … because you endured. You endured early mornings, sore muscles (and) doubt — especially the quiet doubt that creeps in when no one else is looking. You did it together; that matters.”

Wenzel also said the badge they would soon receive carries a set of expectations “far heavier than any hose bundle.”

“The badge represents trust,” the fire chief said. “When citizens dial 911, they are not calling for equipment — they are calling for you. They will call on their worst day. … Your presence will matter before you even step inside their house.”

But what will define a firefighter’s career far more than any skills, Wenzel said, is their character.

“No one will supervise you in the middle of the night, when you’re tired or you’re frustrated,” he said. “No one is watching whether you decide to cut a corner or do it the right way. No one will see how you speak about your department, your officers or your community when you’re off duty — but those decisions will shape who you become.”

He thanked the cadets’ family members for “being a part of your cadets’ journey” and asked the cadets to stand and applaud them.

A video slideshow — overdubbed with popular music — was shown of the cadets’ experience in Academy 22, which also included them conducting vehicle accident extractions and climbing up ladders that reached the sky.

Following the slideshow, Top Cadet Tyson Pickens said he took pride in holding the honorary title bestowed on him by “those I look up to and respect.” He thanked family members for the “major role in getting us to where we are today, asking them to pat themselves on the back.” Pickens also thanked department officials who led the cadets through Academy 22.

Then, Pickens asked his fellow cadets to help him announce the Academy 22 motto: “Pain builds our strength; purpose defines our mission.”

“That, to me, is special — to all of us, it’s special,” Pickens said. 

The pinning ceremony involved cadets being called individually to receive their badge, pinned on them by a family member or loved one. There were teary-eyed parents giving their children hugs, fiancées and wives kissing their partners, and relatives below the stage taking videos or pictures of the pinning with their phones.

Ian Fox, father of Cadet Hayden Fox, became emotional in an interview following pinning his son’s badge, stating he knew his son was up to the call of being a firefighter.

Academy 22 graduate Hayden Fox, who became interested in firefighting as a boy attending summer camp, said the most difficult part of his training was waking up sore.

“But you still push through it,” Fox said, adding the most fun during training was the brotherhood that was created.

When his father pinned a badge on him, Fox looked directly into his eyes and said, “I did it.”

“Knowing that it was such a proud moment, all the hard work I’ve put in — truly amazing,” Fox said. 

He looks forward to the required 25 years of service, adding, “It will go by fast.”