GREENSBORO, N.C. — In Greensboro, it's been a rough couple of months for the fire department.
They've lost a 33-year veteran, a young recruit, and a former chief who was a trailblazer.
But despite loss after loss, they celebrated a big achievement Friday.
Twenty-two new fire recruits graduated and took an oath to protect our city - all with their own reasons for why they wanted to become a firefighter.
"Firefighting is something that has been in families for a long time. You can find it anywhere and that's why I'm here," recruit Shawn Manners said. "My father is a retired firefighter and I wanted to follow in his footsteps, and hopefully one day my kids will do the same."
Manners is officially a firefighter, but to his kids, he's a superhero.
"We're proud that my dad gets to go and fight fires and do all the cool stuff. We're proud of him," Manners' son, Jackson, said.
The class of 2022 went through weeks of training.
Greensboro Fire chief Jim Robinson said those men and women will make a big difference.
"We have had quite a few retirements over the past, really, 12 months. We have lost about 40 employees due to retirements, resignations, and things of that nature. Twenty-two staffed on three shifts will help our overtime issues; it will relieve some of the overtime that our employees are having to work essentially, and we're excited to have any young fresh folks coming out. It re-energizes your organization," Robinson said.
The recruits are equally excited.
Typically they have 24 candidates in each class. This class is just two shy of that mark.
The chief said while recruitment has been a challenge, they have been working on new strategies to address it.