One of our newest members is John Cole, who hails from his homeland of New Zealand and more recently Sydney, Australia. John has found himself in beautiful Berks County while on assignment for his employer Glen Gery Brick, where he currently serves as the General Manager of National Engineering. John graduated from the University of New South Wales Business School and holds an MBA.

John first joined New Zealand Fire Rescue as a volunteer fire fighter in 2006 and left at the rank of Senior Firefighter in 2012 to pursue a career opportunity in Australia. Having thought his fire fighting days were over, John was then prompted to take up the call once again as a volunteer with the New South Wales Rural Fire Service following the devastation seen during the 2019-2020 Australian bush fire season. John remains an enlisted member of the NSW Rural Fire Service, at the rank of Advanced Fire Fighter while on assignment here in the US.

John joins us at Station 85 with a wealth of knowledge and credentials both in structural and wildland fire protection. John has completed his TSFR Probationary Training requirements and is actively running calls. He has diligently pursued translating his overseas training and experience into this hemisphere by recently obtaining his PA Firefighter 1 certification (more on that later).

For this we are grateful for his efforts, and to his understanding family during this process. This includes his wife Hannah, and sons Ari, Declan, and Harvey.

Welcome John…and g’day mate or as we say here in PA Dutch country, wie bischt, boova.