SALISBURY, Md. - The Salisbury Fire Department is experiencing challenges when it comes to recruiting firefighters. The department, like many across the country, are faced with undesirable budgets and shrinking pools of applicants.
"We're not thriving when it comes to, getting a lot of people in the door, you know, and even the ones that apply will come in, but they may not have those minimum the minimum qualifications," said Fire Chief Rob Frampton. "It's very difficult for us to you know, recruit and retain here, especially on the Eastern Shore."
New hire, Cody West, began his hands-on training this week including one-on-one time with Sergeant Brady Scott. Fire hose training and masking-up practice filled their training days, mixing new skills with West's experience as a volunteer firefighter, something that isn't as common as it seems.
Cody West practicing masking-up.
"We're not thriving when it comes to, getting a lot of people in the door, you know, and even the ones that apply will come in, but they may not have those minimum the minimum qualifications," said Frampton.
Scott tells WBOC he remembers there being 120 applicants when he applied for the department 12 years ago. Chief Frampton says they are now lucky if they have 5.
"A lot of people don't want to work in public safety anymore. They don't want to be in a dangerous profession. There's also more higher paying jobs that are out there with a lot less, you know, danger to your life," said Frampton.
Another concern for the department: not being able to hire as many firefighters as they want to have on staff.
"The city's never unprotected because we'll just transfer in volunteer departments from outside to help backfill. But we don't want to have to rely on that," said Frampton.
Frampton says the department will continue to make budget requests to the City of Salisbury to add more staff to the team.