FARMINGTON – For the first time in the Farmington Fire Rescue Department’s history, officials are advertising for manpower. They need firefighters, driver/pump operators and support personnel.
The department is holding an informational meeting at 7 tonight, at the fire station on Farmington Falls Road for people interested in learning how to get involved and what it would take to carry out the job.
There are 31 firefighters on the roster, including a chaplain and a photographer. There is room for 40 to 45 firefighters, but the roster hasn’t carried that many in years, Chief Terry Bell said Wednesday.
In addition, those on the roster range in age, with most of them over 40. There are eight members in their 20s, no members in their 30s, eight members in their 40s, six members in their 50s and nine members 60 and over.
“With age, comes experience,” Bell said.
Those interested in applying to become a firefighter in the future would have an oral interview and a physical agility test. Applicants also go through a criminal background check, a license check and a medical evaluation by the department’s doctor, Bell said.
He’ll explain all of the requirements at the meeting tonight.
A driver/pump operator needs a valid Maine driver’s license and needs to pass a background check, he said.
By law, a firefighter can drive a firetruck without a commercial driver’s license, he said.
Support personnel could be working on computers and helping out at fire scenes and at the fire station. All of the fire-reporting information is done electronically.
The department decided to hold a meeting to recruit manpower because of concerns about not having enough firefighters.
People have work and family commitments, the chief said, and to find time to be an on-call firefighter is difficult.
“With the time requirement, it’s very hard to get people to be involved and committed,” Bell said. “If you get in the fire service and you like it, it will change your life. You’ll get far more out of it.”
There’s pride in being part of the firefighter family and satisfaction in helping others, Bell said.
“It’s a huge commitment for just being a paid per-call firefighter,” he said. “So if we don’t do stuff like I’m trying to do, we need to find other ways to get people interested in the fire service. The inevitable is going to happen that no one wants to hear. You’ll have to have time people.”
Mutual aid from other fire departments is helping, he said. But a lot of businesses don’t like to let their people go for those calls because it’s costing them too much.
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