FIREFIGHTER JOSHUA WALKER

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January 2, 2024, was Joshua “Josh” Walker’s first day as a full-time firefighter with the Claremont Fire Department. He joined the department as a call firefighter in August 2023 after several years as a call firefighter first in Grantham and then in Ascutney (where he’s still on-call). His recent work experience also includes three years as a network engineer at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, handling desktop support, wireless and shared-drive issues.

“I consider myself a lifelong learner,” Josh says.” “Lifelong” has a special meaning for him. “I basically grew up in the healthcare and firefighting environments. My mother was one of the first two New Hampshire women to pass the career-level firefighting test in the 1980s. She served as an EMT in Manchester, then became a nurse. And my stepfather was a call firefighter in Hopkinton.” Add to that his six years of IT experience in the healthcare sector, and his diverse expertise will serve Claremont well.

Josh graduated from the New Hampshire Fire Academy’s Firefighter 1 program in the fall of 2020 and Firefighter 2 in spring 2021. He is currently a staff instructor of the recruit school program, teaching topics such as fire suppression, search and rescue, and roof ventilation.

“Firefighting is a field where you never stop learning,” he says. “When I started as a call firefighter in Grantham, everything clicked, and I knew this was what I really wanted to do with my life.”