TOMS RIVER - A two-year program to train high school students to become professional EMTs and firefighters would be added to the catalog of courses available in the Ocean County Vocational Technical School District , under a proposal introduced by county Commissioner Robert Arace.

The aim would be to certify students enrolled in the program at the end of their senior year, after which they would be qualified to seek employment in either first responder role, the commissioner said in public remarks Wednesday.

After meeting with various stakeholders in which the need for such an academy was discussed, Arace said that a preliminary timeline for a formal proposal could be expected in six months. The time is needed to explore “what it will take” to come up with a curriculum, identify needed faculty and determine what legal requirements must be met, he said. He did not offer an estimate about the potential cost.

“Pre-COVID, there were 22,000 EMTs in the state of New Jersey,” Arace said. “Post-COVID, we were down to 19,000 and that population continues to shrink while our calls are continually on the rise. So an investment into training is something that I would be very much interested in making.”

Jack Kelly, director of the Board of Commissioners, said the last major investment the county made in the education and training of its future first responders was in the mid-1990s, when the then-Board of Freeholders built the county Fire and First Aid Training Center in Waretown.

“It was worse before we built that,” Kelly said. “These firefighters were going all over the state looking for training.”

“That was an amazing first step,” Arace said. “As the sheriff knows and as others know, the EMT population now has gone down 3,000 (since 2020) and it continues to decline.”

The former Republican mayor of Manchester, Arace was elected to the county board in November and assumed office on Jan. 1.

The county vocational district operates the Marine Academy of Technology & Environmental Science, Grunin Performing Arts Academy, Academy of Law and Public Safety, in addition to a series of trade and other specialized educational programs at its campuses across Ocean County.