The firefighters from Dartmouth Fire District 1 gathered Wednesday night for a cookout  — all while keeping an ear out for the scanner.

The celebration was in honor of their newest recruit, who recently graduated from the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy. Nathan Mateus, 20, completed the course this past May, and Acting Chief Jake Bettencourt wanted to celebrate with an official “Black Hat Ceremony,” where Mateus would move up from being a probationary firefighter and trade in his yellow hat for one of the black hats worn by Dartmouth’s firefighters.

“When Nate was younger, he’d see (current Lieutenant) Pete Andrade responding to fires. He took an interest in it, and about a year ago he asked Pete if he could come down to the fire station,” said Bettencourt.

“And he stayed with it. He would come down for Wednesday night drills, watching us and we put him on as a probationary firefighter,” he said.

Trainees are given gear from the department and can observe calls but they can’t get involved. They have an opportunity to gain some real world insight within the district as they train at the academy in Stow, Massachusetts.

Mateus said training at the school started in February and lasted through May. He had about 16 hours of classes a week, usually held twice on weeknights and on Saturdays. It was split between a traditional classroom setting and live training.

“Up in Stow, there’s a burning building, and they light up hay and pallets and you go in and fight it like you would any other fire,” said Mateus. “You mask up, check your hose line, check the door for heat, then you go in and find the fire and search for victims.”

Mateus said the experience initially was nerve-racking, but he felt that the program trained him for all that could happen in Dartmouth.

Andrade said that he first met Mateus through his son when he was still in high school. Because the district doesn’t have a training program for juniors, he waited until Mateus graduated before bringing him down to the station.

“I brought him down May of last year. I got his foot in the door and helped him get to know all the guys. He took off from there,” said Andrade. “It’s not like a job down here — it’s more or less another family.”

But like with any close-knit group, Andrade was concerned that Mateus would be intimidated as the new kid among a large group of adults. He knew Mateus would become part of the team the more he showed up, so Andrade started getting Mateus involved and inviting him to watch the firefighters train.

When it was time to head up to the academy, Mateus would carpool with two trainees from District 3, Michael Franco and Mathew Seland.

“It was a big commitment. They’d have to go to Stow almost every weekend. They’d go to Fall River on Monday and Wednesday nights,” said Andrade.

“They had live fire training. They covered ladders, pumps, hydraulics, they have a simulator up there — they did it all. We’re confident we got a good guy here. He’s got a lot more to learn, but he’s well trained and ready to go out anytime on these trucks,” he added.

During the cookout, Bettencourt presented Mateus with his new black hat, making him an official firefighter for District 1.

“He’s a classy kid. He’s an asset to the department. He’s got a great attitude,” said Bettencourt.