The 2010 Bombero Academy was our last formal academy as a leadership group from Colorado, California, New York, New Mexico, and many support persons from numerous locations.
What made this our last academy was the implementation of the Academic Track as a formal training of fire instructors to the NFPA 1041 standard. Michael Finney was an instructor at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland, teaching structural course design. This is where Bill met Mike and the rest was history. Mike taught five years of Fire Instructor One and Two, with the results being our Mexican counterparts were planning, designing and implementing their own annual fire academies. We celebrated their accomplishments, and knew we would miss our special friendships and annual endeavors.