Pittsburgh FD May Have 250 Openings
The Pittsburgh Fire Department is facing a huge task next year (from Firehouse.com).
Chief Michael H. Huss is emphasizing training as his department seeks to fill up to 250 jobs next year. That's about a third of the department's work force, and the most openings anyone in the Fire Bureau can remember. Almost half of the openings could come from retirements this month. With so many seasoned firefighters leaving at once, the bureau will lean heavily on recruits.To ensure they're up to the task, Huss, who took over the bureau in March, doubled recruit training time from nine weeks to 18, required recruits to undergo lie-detector background checks and added new vehicle rescue and Emergency Medical Technician courses.
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"By the end of 2006, better than one-third of my department will be new firefighters," he said. "That has never happened in the history of my profession."
I hope all goes well for the fire department. Getting so many new recruits trained up within such a short period of time is going to be a challenge.
We have a small volunteer department in my hometown, but it would be tricky to have 1/3 of the department be new firefighters. The loss of experience from the firefighters leaving the department would really set us back.
