Four current and retired St. Paul firefighters pinned badges Thursday on their sons who are newly-minted firefighters — and Frank Todd did the honors twice.
Both his sons joined him in the ranks of the St. Paul Fire Department as they graduated from the department’s academy.
Todd, a St. Paul firefighter for 27 years, said he was feeling as proud as his wedding day and the days his two children were born.
The graduation ceremony for 21 new St. Paul firefighters was in the Minnesota History Center’s auditorium and Blaze and Brex Todd set at least recent history: In Fire Chief Butch Inks’ 31 years in the St. Paul department, he doesn’t remember another time that siblings graduated from the academy at the same time. The closest he could recall were brothers who graduated 11 months apart.
All the new firefighters went through 14 weeks of intense training in the department’s fire academy.
“I know that we have two firefighters in our graduating class who are siblings, but let me tell you, we have 21 who are brothers and sisters,” Mayor Melvin Carter said of the close-knit academy class. “And you join as brothers and sisters in a large department of people who literally must have each other’s backs in order for anything to work.”
Dad told them: ‘Best job in the world’
Blaze Todd, 23, and Brex Todd, 21, both said they were inspired by their father to become firefighters.
Their names were influenced by Frank Todd’s work. When wife Shannon Todd was pregnant with their older son, they were at church and Frank Todd pointed out a reference in scripture to a “blaze of fire.”
“I went, ‘Yup, that’s it,’” she said Thursday of deciding on the name Blaze.
Blaze Todd said he’s become accustomed to people telling him, “You were bound to be a firefighter with a name like that.”
For their younger son’s name, Frank Todd was listing off equipment on a firetruck and got to “axe,” which led to them to think of the name Brex.
As a kid, Brex Todd remembers visiting his dad at his fire station, and hearing his stories. “He always told us it’s the best job in the world,” he said.
St. Paul Firefighter Frank Todd, second from right, and his wife Shannon, second from right, poses for a photo with their sons and newly minted St. Paul Firefighters Brex, second from from left, and Blaze following a ceremony at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul on Thursday, May 29, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
St. Paul was their goal
Both Blaze and Brex Todd did EMT and fire training at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire, near where their family lives in rural Wisconsin. They got experience at an ambulance service and a volunteer fire department.
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They both wanted to become St. Paul firefighters and went through the testing process, though they and their parents never expected they’d be selected to join the department at the same time.
“I really just didn’t think in a million years that they would ever be in the same academy class,” said Shannon Todd. “We thought it would be amazing if they eventually did work for St Paul, but it’s hard to even get to the point of being in the class.”
Inks, speaking during the graduation ceremony, said he jokingly thought during the hiring process of the brothers: “Well, how can we only hire one? What would Christmas be like if we did that?”
“Thank you!” Shannon Todd shouted from the audience.
Pride and nerves
Shannon Todd said she knows she’ll worry about her sons, as she used to about Frank when he became a firefighter.
“Over the years, you just kind of get used to it,” she said of settling into Frank’s work. She hopes the worry will also ease up this time around, “although it’s different with your kids,” she added.
Frank Todd, 57, works at Station 19 in the Highland Park neighborhood.
“I’m going to stay a little longer now because I want to work with them,” he said. He and his sons will all work the same shift, though new St. Paul firefighters move around to various stations.
Blaze Todd said he felt proud and nervous on Thursday.
“I just hope that we can carry on the name that our dad has put out there,” he said.
Finding firefighters in new ways
Olivia Weinberger, center, takes the firefighter oath during the graduation ceremony for the 2025-A Fire Academy class at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul on Thursday, May 29, 2025. Weinberger was one of 21 new firefighters/EMT-paramedics who completed a 14-week training academy. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Seven of St. Paul’s new firefighters came from pathways programs aimed for people who might not otherwise consider a career as a firefighter or have the educational opportunities. The programs are the department’s EMS Academy, where they earn their emergency medical technician certification, and the department’s Basic Life Support ambulance unit.
New firefighter Manuel Fortoso, 21, said after he graduated from St. Paul’s Central High School, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, “but I wanted to do something that I felt like I had purpose in.”
Fortoso found the fire department’s EMS Academy, which he went through, and later worked for the Basic Life Support unit.
St. Paul Firefighter Academy class 2025A graduate Manuel Fortoso has his badge pinned onto his shirt by his father Felix Fortoso. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
His father also pinned his new badge on him Thursday.
Four of Thursday’s graduates are women, and they took part in Twin Cities Female Firefighter Fitness — it’s run by women to connect with and prepare women who are looking into becoming firefighters.
Since Inks took over as fire chief in 2018, Thursday’s class was the 11th academy to graduate and it marked 208 firefighters hired, which is nearly half of the department’s firefighters.
The new firefighters bring the department’s ranks to 19 above authorized strength, which allows them to be fully staffed as people retire or otherwise leave the department, Inks said.
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