SPRINGFIELD — Retirements and smaller recruitment classes could trigger a firefighter shortage in Springfield.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, the Springfield Fire Department is working to get new firefighters in the door as others near retirement.
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“They’ll finish their training August 1. They’ll be assigned out to a station at that time, but at the same time, we’ll turn around and we’ll have several retirements. So, we’ll have a net loss at that point,” Springfield Fire Department Assistant Chief Matthew Smith said.
Despite this, the department is trying to keep its staff numbers high.
“When I took the test in 1994, there were 500 people. Now our last one, we had 99 people,” Smith said.
He added that the landscape is different for young recruits today compared to years ago.
New firefighters must undergo hundreds of hours of training before getting in the truck.
“Some of our people just saying, ‘You know what? I went through all this training, but it’s not for me.’ Which is surprising to me,” Smith said.
Some Springfield firefighters are leaving for other stations or other industries.
“We are in competition with other fire departments, other cities for quality candidates,” Smith said.
The shortage could cause more overtime for the ones on staff, which could lead to a larger turnover rate.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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