Two new firefighters officially began their careers with the Streator Fire Department this week.

Family members, friends, coworkers and city staff gathered for a pinning ceremony to swear in Gio Pappas and Chandler Bedeker this week as the department’s newest firefighters.

Bedeker is a Streator native and a 2018 graduate of Streator High School. He served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps before joining the department.

Pappas, who grew up in Lockport, holds a master’s degree in psychology from Calumet College of St. Joseph.

Both firefighters will complete two weeks of in-house training before reporting to the Illinois Fire Service Institute for a seven-week fire academy in early March.