MIDDLETOWN, Ky. —

As Hispanic Heritage Month continues, Anchorage Middletown Fire and EMS is highlighting its year-round efforts to diversify the department by strengthening outreach to Hispanic communities and recruiting the next generation of first responders.

Among the newest faces are recruits Matthew Taveras and Noah Nunez Steele, both members of the department’s 2025 recruiting class.

The 16-person class began 26 weeks of hands-on training in June and will graduate in December. For both men, service is a family tradition and a personal calling.

“My dad, his whole family, they came from Nicaragua in the ’80s,” said Nunez Steele. “I always wanted to do something that mattered. My family’s in public service, my dad was a police officer with LAPD and I figured, why not go down the

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