Pell
The White River Township Fire Department is recruiting for the largesthiring blitz in the department’s history.
The department is currently looking to hire 22 new employees — 18 full-time firefighters and four civilian medics. Prior to this year, the largest hiring class was comprised of 20 people in 2004, said Jeremy Pell, fire chief.
Being able to hire this many new employees was made possible by a change in Indiana law a few years ago. State lawmakers realized that with property tax caps, there wasn’t a way for a rapidly growing community to keep up with growth. The law was changed so that if a community’s population growth is over a certain percentage during a 10-year period, then officials can request to increase the levy, Pell said.
Lawmakers also realized property tax caps don’t always line up with protecting people, so lawmakers decided to change the law specifically for fire districts and fire territories so that they are able to get more money to hire people to protect the population, he said.
“We had about a 22% growth in population over a 10-year period, which allowed us to adjust our tax levy so that we would have some money to hire people and adequately respond to that huge growth in people in our community,” Pell said.
With the levy increase, the department was able to have a little more than $3 million extra which will be used for the new positions. The additional firefighters and medics will make a large difference in people’s lives, he said.
White River Township Fire currently has 81 full-time firefighters, and the additional employees will put the department at 105 total full-time employees — firefighters, paramedics and support staff. The 22 new employees will also completely staff the stations they have now, Pell said.
The additional employees will allow the department to add another response squad: an advanced life support squad staffed by two firefighter/paramedics. These additions will lead to better response times in the northwest part of the fire district and more firefighters on the ground, he said.
“Those will have real impacts on people’s lives,” Pell said. “One of our very good paramedics said, ‘Chief, it’s the difference between being alive and living.’ We want you to live; we want you to enjoy time with your family, not just be alive in a hospital bed.”
The four additional civilian paramedic positions will allow for advanced life support to be available more, along with allowing the department to provide this service in areas of their district faster. This high level of care will make a difference in the community and improve people’s quality of life, Pell said.
“The difference that means for the members of our community is that about 75% of what we do is medical-related,” he said. “… The faster we can get there, the better quality of life we can give them because that time saves heart, muscle and brain tissue when somebody’s having a medical emergency.”
White River Township Fire’s daily firefighter staffing has not changed in over 20 years, and its usual staffing is 17 firefighters and six paramedics at any given time. If there’s a house fire, the department will show up with 23 people total. The new positions will increase the numbers to 19 firefighters and six paramedics, meaning 25 people will show up to a house fire, Pell said.
An additional benefit of the new positions is that they are all full-time. Right now, the department has been relying on part-time firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics. While the department will continue to have part-time positions, it is not realistic to continue to add additional part-time positions in the current workforce environment, he said.
“It is next to impossible to get part-time firefighters now,” Pell said. “The ones we have are amazing people, but it’s just next to impossible. This is going to be a game-changer for how our department serves this community.”
White River Township Fire is a department that cares deeply about people and is committed to saving lives. In the past, members of the community have told the department that they have the expectation for the department to respond quickly when there’s a house fire or an incident at a school, he said.
“This is going to give us the ability to do that, whereas in the past we couldn’t even meet national standards,” Pell said. “This puts us in a position of meeting national standards and providing the response that the people in our community deserve.”
Reaction about the new positions has been positive so far. The fire service is excited there will be good career opportunities at the department, Pell said.
There will be a small impact on residents’ property tax bills due to the levy increase, however, most of it is offset by an increase in property values this year. Within the fire protection district, values went up 19%, he said.
While the increase in staffing seems large compared to where the department is currently, it’s a result of the department addressing 20 years of growth at one time. Adding the employees now will not only improve people’s safety, but it will have a positive impact on the outcomes of their emergencies, Pell said.
“Our insurance rating … could potentially help lower their homeowner’s insurance, and for a business could reduce lost work time, lost revenue because we get to an emergency such as a fire and get it put out quickly,” he said.
For more information about the new positions, go to wrtfd.org/jobs or email [email protected].
