“Even some of the schools like Sinclair have seen decreases in the number of people registering for firefighter school or EMT school so they’re not producing as much as they would like,” Kujawa said. “In turn we’re not getting firefighters that are trained coming out of school.”
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Kip Smith, Fire Academy Coordinator at Sinclair Community College, said their program hasn’t seen a decrease in enrollment, but that the demand for career firefighters is greater than the supply.
“I don’t think there are many, if any, of our graduates that within a year aren’t gainfully employed either full-time or part-time,” Smith said.
Washington Twp., which also provides fire services to the city of Centerville, has five fire stations throughout the township and Centerville, with 30 in-house firefighters and 23 licensed firefighter/EMTs. The department has 54 part-time firefighters.
Centerville does not have its own fire department.
The hiring process is expected to last four to eight weeks as the department recruits in a 100-mile radius from Washington Twp. to bring in potential firefighters. Depending on experience and certifications, part-timers can make up to $19.51 per hour.
“We’re actively recruiting and going outside of our normal Dayton-area zone, trying to draw in people from the Columbus and Cincinnati areas,” Kujawa said. “Hopefully their schools are still pushing out the numbers of people that we would like to see.”
For those looking to start a firefighter career or continue it, Kujawa said those people need to be certified and will not look to hire anyone without a firefighter and an EMT certification.
“We’re not taking people without any certifications off the street,” he said.
According to their 2017 budget, the township is expected to spend $12.2 million on the fire department or 37 percent of their estimated expenses for the year. In 2016, the township spent $11.1 million on the fire department. They also project a near $500,000 increase in part-time expenses in 2017, compared to last year.
Interested applicants should visit washingtontwp.org/jobs#ptfire. Only hired applicants who submit their applications by March 31, 2017 will qualify for the signing bonus.
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