Even as local fire departments try to find ways to up the ante on pay and make it easier for recruits to get hired, interest in firefighting careers continues to crater.
McKayla Adams is a firefighter and paramedic with the Janesville Fire Department. She says the public response to a hiring call by Janesville’s fire department is increasingly like listening to crickets chirp at an offer to earn $60,000 a year saving lives.
Adams says the department once saw 500 people apply for a half-dozen firefighter openings. It now sees as few as 15 applicants for the same number of openings.
That is not just a hyper-local trend. It’s something urban and rural firehouses alike deal with. It results in short staffing, longer hours for staff on hand, and bigger overtime costs.
Adams says probably the biggest need the department has now is trained paramedics who are certified and ready to be hired. There are none.
The fire department needs more paramedics because the fire department is certified as a paramedic agency.
Adams says the shortage of paramedics means officers have had to increasingly make ambulance runs, which comes at a financial and logistical cost to the department as the city’s firehouses juggle staff to fill daily needs.
Adams says Janesville’s Fire Department works increasingly with students who’re on their way through about a year’s worth of training to be an Emergency Medical Technician. It would take those new workers at least another year to get certified as a paramedic.
