Recruits in new program will be paid as they train
Gilmer County Fire and Rescue is looking to recruit more firefighters and EMTs with a new training and certification program, which will start in August.
Like many of today’s public safety agencies, Gilmer Fire is dealing with a staffing shortage, confirmed Fire Chief Daniel Kauffman.
“We are not at full staff, but a program like this should get us up to full staffing. We’re looking to hire 12-15 through the program,” he added. “Short staffing seems to be a nationwide thing, not just in Gilmer or surrounding counties. The City of Atlanta is way understaffed, and some places are actually shutting down fire stations, which is very unfortunate.”
Those accepted into the program will be paid as they train for employment, Kauffman said.
“This program is designed to take them pretty much off the street and put them through Firefighter 1 and Firefighter 2 training. After completing that, they will be Fire 2 certified and start EMT Basic training. Then they’ll go to EMT Advanced training,” he added. “While they’re doing their training, it will be 8-hour days, Monday-Friday, and they’ll get paid while in school attending class.”
All applicants must be at least 18 and a high school graduate. They must also pass criminal and driving background checks, Kauffman noted.
“We’d like to (interest) some high school seniors and people invested in the community who already live here. We want homegrown people from Gilmer County who can benefit from this program,” Kauffman said. “We figure if they already live here, the chances of retaining them as employees are pretty good.”
Those who successfully complete the training will automatically be put on a regular shift. The fire department is primarily looking for full-time employees, Kauffman confirmed.
“The firefighter schedule is unique in that it’s 24 hours on and 48 hours off, which allows them an opportunity to work part-time jobs on their days off. Upon completion (of training), they’ll have a contract to stay employed with Gilmer County for a period of time,” he added.
The firefighter portion of the training will start Aug. 1 and run through Dec. 2. The EMT training will begin shortly thereafter and last into summer 2023. An advantage of the program is the majority of the training will take place here in Gilmer County, noted Kauffman.
“We have a portable classroom at Fire Station 1, so training will be conducted there. It will be in-house. There will be some off-site training on the fire side that we’ll contract with either the fire academy or local agencies that have a training facility to accommodate what we need,” he added. “As part of the EMT program, they have a certain amount of clinical hours, so they’ll have to ride on an ambulance to meet those hours.”
The fire department will host two open houses at which those interested in the training program can learn more and ask questions. Those public open houses will be held Thursday, June 9, and Tuesday, June 14, 6 p.m., at Fire Station 1, 325 Howard Simmons Road.
“It will basically be a question and answer session, We’ll give additional information and answer their questions to the best of our ability,” Kauffman said.
The way firefighters and EMTs are trained here differs from an urban or suburban area, Kauffman noted.
“Training people for the way we need them to (work) is an advantage,” he said.
The mountains and water present different challenges, which are addressed in the department’s training procedures.
“We’re geographically challenged with some of the locations of homes, high driveways and steep terrain. We have wildlife management areas, state parks and trails, so when people get hurt (in those places), we have to be able to get in, get them packaged and get them out. Our water sources are also a little bit different as we don’t have a hydrant every 500 feet like in the metro area,” Kauffman said.
“We also do swift water rescue, which a lot of places don’t. There are three major rivers running through the county. When you have a large influx of water from rain, they tend to rise pretty quickly, which always presents a challenge.”