Portland Fire & Rescue hiring lateral firefighters for first time in agency history
By Paulina Aguilar
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PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — Portland Fire & Rescue is hiring lateral firefighters for the first time in history in an effort to fill a staffing shortage.
Terry Foster, Portland Fire & Rescue’s public information officer, says typically the department hires entry level firefighters who go to a 12-month academy. Because of past hiring freezes and a large number of people retiring in July, PF&R is now focused on hiring experienced firefighters who don’t need lengthy training.
“We were behind the hiring process to begin with. Now the immediate need is this summer,” says Foster.
If they are short-staffed, everyday firefighters are being asked to work extra, something PF&R is trying to avoid.
“If someone takes vacation, if they’re sick, they get injured, we need a pool of travelers or firefighters that can fill in for those vacancies. We’ll have that pool empty if we don’t do something quickly.”
Lateral firefighters are expected to have at least two years of experience and a variety of certifications such as firefighting search, hazmat search, and wildfire search.
But what happens to new recruits? They will continue their 12-month training on schedule. PF&R expects to hire two groups that will have 16-20 in each group. The lateral firefighters will still need some training, but not nearly as much as first-time firefighters.
“Each fire department has their way of doing things. For us it’s pulling a hose off the back of an engine, some have larger diameter hose. It’s getting some of those basic practices down. They’re doing it in an accelerated fashion. They’re expected to have the physical requirement. They should be firefighters and be able to do this job. It’s just a matter of making sure they can do it the Portland way,” says Foster.
PF&R says, depending on how many people retire this year, there is a possibility they could hire lateral firefighters again later in the year.
Hiring will begin in late March and the class could start working by the end of summer. The starting salary for two years-experience begins at $75,000.
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