By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
With three openings in Decatur’s paid-on-call (volunteers) firefighting force, a major change in the fire department’s hiring practices has been made.
Effective with the approval of the city’s board of works and safety at its latest meeting, the age limit for hiring has been lowered from 21 to 18.
Fire Chief Jeff Sheets requested the change, noting the increasing difficulty of finding people to fill the ranks.
With three recent resignations – including those of Justin Weil and Darrell Drake – the department’s volunteer force has been reduced from a full complement of 25 to 22.
And another resignation is coming with a retirement in June.
The paid-on-call personnel are paid only when they respond to a fire call. The department has 12 full-time regulars.
Sheets said the department recently formed a Recruitment & Retention Committee and that group recommended the lowering of the age requirement to 18 years.
Firefighting classes are now offered in high schools and those who pass the Fire & Rescue Course “are mature enough to handle the responsibility,” Sheets said.
Mayor Dan Rickord pointed out that numerous communities in the area and across the state are also lowering the age standard.
“Every (fire) department is struggling to gain recruits,” said city Operations Manager Jeremy Gilbert, a longtime member of the volunteer force. “We’re just trying to think out of the box.”
The limit on the other end of the age scale remains the same: no one over 40 will be hired.
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