08-25-2010, 05:28 AM
Lee3 wrote: They are trying to. There are many qualified applicants.
I can't speak for everywhere. I know here in Ventura they announce the number of people who applied, but many of those don't actually meet the minimum requirements, which include about two years of paramedic training for a county job. Two years studying fire science, and proficiency in Spanish are preferred. So too is experience working as a fire fighter, perhaps in a seasonal job that pays $14/hour hacking chaparral in the outback and responding to brush fires.
So they give them written tests & physical tests & interview them & perform background checks. Then they hire the best, put them through the Fire Academy, and quite a few of them wash out within the first three or four years. They can't keep up physically, or they realize how hard it is to have a family when they're gone for 48 hours at a time. Or up to 21 days at a time, when there's a disaster. When a firefighter quits, that means the department wasted tens of thousands of dollars putting him or her through 16 weeks of fire academy, plus all the on-the-job training. So yes, they need lots of applicants. Any private sector job where they put new hires through four months of training is the same way.
As for pensions, I'm in favor of pension reform. But are firefighters overpaid? No.