Glendale to Hire at Least 20 Firefighters This Summer

At least 20 firefighters will be hired this summer in an effort to bring the city’s beleaguered Fire Department up to full staffing levels, city officials said this week.

As part of its budget-cutting plan for the past three years, the city has allowed positions in many departments to remain vacant after employees have quit or retired.

The new recruits will be hired for at least 15 firefighter slots that have gone unfilled and to replace several more people expected to retire from the 140-member department in the coming year, said Fire Marshal David Starr.

“Rather than fill the positions, they’ve stayed open, and in some cases we’ve eliminated the positions,” Starr said.

So far, the department has already conducted written, oral and physical agility tests on a number of applicants for the entry-level firefighter positions.

Fire Department officials have not yet determined how many recruits will be hired, but said it will be at least 20, depending on the number of upcoming retirements. Before being chosen for the program, each candidate must be interviewed by Fire Chief Richard Hinz.

The recruits will be schooled in firefighting procedures and equipment at the department’s training facility at 541 W. Chevy Chase Drive. Those who pass muster will form the first class of firefighters to graduate from the Glendale program since 1989.

Jack Hoffman, the city’s personnel director, said the money for the new firefighters was included in the city’s recently adopted $330-million budget.

“The positions already exist and they are funded, they just have not been filled,” Hoffman said.

He said the added personnel will reduce the number of overtime hours firefighters work, since the city has been filling the gap by asking other firefighters to work extra hours and then paying them with funds budgeted for the vacant positions.

Starr said the new recruits also will help ease the burden caused by the elimination and consolidation of certain sections of the department, another cost-cutting move. The department’s support services section, which ran radio communications and the mechanical maintenance shop, is one such section that was axed, he said.