MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - It was a packed, busy day Nov. 11 inside the Township's Municipal Building where three of Meridian's finest received some well deserved promotions.

Firefighter Bill Richards was promoted to Captain, Rudy Gonzalez was promoted to Lieutenant, and Trevor Banker completed his training and received the distinction of becoming a full-time firefighter. Earlier in the day, four part-time paramedic firefighters were sworn in.

The event began with a statement with Fire Chief Fred Cowper, highlighting the men's work at the fire station prior to their promotions. All three were sworn in by Township Clerk Brett Dreyfus, followed by their family members pinning their new badges onto their lapels.

The three men enter a probationary period for the next year for an evaluation period. They will enter their full time positions once the period is up. Chief Cowper told the crowd the strenuous nature of the probationary period, and what the men need to do to keep their positions.

"The real, greater celebration is in one year from now when they're standing here wearing those badges," said Cowper. "Because what they're going to go through in the next year is going to be a huge amount of evaluations and proving that they get to keep those badges."

Cowper also mentioned the difficulty of even achieving the position of captain and lieutenant in the fire department, with so many men and women returning to college and the National Fire Academy. As the bar is raised, so is the quality of the product they expect from promotees.

"It's now become quite a challenge for our personnel to achieve these higher positions in the department," said Cowper of the assessments. "We are bringing on, what I believe, to be a higher caliber of paramedic firefighter to our ranks."

In the next 12 months, the men will with any luck, prove they are up to the challenge.