As Lubbock Fire Rescue begins hiring non-certified certified due to fewer applications, local fire chiefs have offered thoughts on the adopted hiring change.
Levelland Fire Department Chief Jay McKay expressed this change was an opportunity to recruit new fire fighters.
“They are actually not getting to fight fire until they are certified from what I understand,” “So, it’s just a way to recruit people in and put them through their own training to get them certified.”
According to McKay, there are about 12 or 13 volunteers, nine full-time fire fighters and two part time that also volunteer at the Levelland fire department currently.
“Right now, we have about 12 to 13 volunteers,” McKay said. “We have nine full time pay and two part timers who are also on our volunteer department.”
The Levelland fire department accepts people with no prior training and train them within the department.
“Here, they can get on without any training and then we train them ourselves,” McKay said. “They go through intro, fire fighter one, fire fighter two, and then they’re eligible to test for the state certification through state firemen’s and fire marshals association.”
McKay explained that to apply or volunteer a person must be 21, have a clean driving record and be able to perform the physical duties of the job.
“They have to be at least 21, clean driving record, no felonies and be able to perform the duties of the job,” McKay said.
Levelland fire department can have 25 volunteer fire fighters and those interested can get an application from the fire station.
Jay Kelley, training officer and captain of the Whiteface volunteer fire department expressed that many fire departments in states other than Texas have been hiring fire fighters that are not certified and enrolling them in the fire departments academy.
“I’m not from Texas and there are a lot of fire departments in other states that do that,” Kelley said. “All of my experience is that way. They hire you; you pass the written and agility test and then they send you to their own recruit academy.”
Kelley explained that even those that are certified before joining a fire department are trained how a specific department wants them to be.
“I don’t think going to impact Lubbock’s preparedness negatively,” Kelley said. “They’re going to put you through their academy and show you how they want it done because there’s a whole lot of different ways.”
The fire department will still test and commission fire personnel but are accepting those with no previous experience.
“I don’t see it hurting them from the standpoint of preparedness,” Kelley said. “When they come out of their fire school, they’re going to be trained and they’re gonna know how to do things and they’re gonna have to pass the same commission test they had to pass before.”
The Whiteface volunteer fire department does not have any paid fire fighters and rely on volunteers.
“We have 13 volunteers and seven explorers,” Kelley said. “Explorers are high school kids 14 to 18. Volunteer fire departments are important to small communities, and we should not think of a volunteer fire department being a fire department on the cheap.”
The Whiteface volunteer department meets the first, third and fifth Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m.
“In Whiteface, if you show up, fill out an application and pass a background check, at the next meeting we will hand you a pair of boots and a set of bunker gear, and tell you to start training,” Kelley said.
Kelley explained the Whiteface volunteer fire department follows the NFPA and will not allow anyone to go into an unsafe atmosphere until they have passed the NFPA standards for live fire.
“We will not allow anyone to go into an unsafe atmosphere without training,” Kelley said. “Most of the time if you’re a rookie we’ll keep you in the truck or helping pick up stuff around the fire or on a grass fire we’ll keep you inside the cap of the truck or on the tanker because we don’t want to get anybody hurt.”
Sundown fire chief Cole Mulloy expressed that this will benefit the surrounding community as well.
“To be honest with you I think it’ll be a great idea because other than Lubbock the only other major school that we’re allowed to go to do any training is College Station,” Mulloy said. “So, having something more local is definitely going to benefit our surrounding community.”
Sundown volunteer fire department has 19 volunteer fire fighters. Mulloy expressed his gratitude for the number of people willing to volunteer.
“It’s been pretty steady, if we have one that leaves, we normally are lucky enough to get one to come back in and take over.”
Mulloy explained that most of their training is done in house with workbooks, videos and some hands-on work.
“Most of our training right now is inhouse training,” Mulloy said. “We do bookwork, videos, some hands-on, we don’t get a lot of hands-on training.”
There are currently three spots available for volunteers at the Sundown volunteer fire department. Those interested can contact Sundown city hall or the fire department directly.
“We have three more spots available on our department,” “They can either contact the fire department or city hall and leave their name and number.”
Even though the fire department is volunteer based, Mulloy stated they respond as quick as possible with the number of volunteers they have.
“We’re available as much as we possibly can and we’ll respond as quick as we can to anything we have,” Mulloy said.