BATON ROUGE — Thirty-two rookie firefighters started training to join the Baton Rouge Fire Department this week.

The class was full Tuesday during the first day of the academy, with Mayor-President Sid Edwards stopping by BRFD Headquarters to speak to the recruits. 

He said that he wants the recruits to know that being a firefighter is more than just extinguishing fires.

"This is an elite organization, and it does my heart good to walk in there and see a full class of 30-plus recruits," Edwards said. "They're our most precious asset, and these men and women will meet some of our citizens at the worst moments in their life, and it takes a special person to know not only to do the technical stuff, but how to handle that, that piece of it too."

The recruits will now undergo six months of training before officially becoming firefighters.