HARRISON TOWNSHIP — Two local communities are teaming up to get more young people better prepared to be firefighters and paramedics in the Miami Valley.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, News Center 7’s John Bedell spent part of his day learning about a new program aimed at keeping the communities safer.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Local superintendent responds to bill looking to close some low-performing schools in Ohio
- 3 men have been killed at a San Diego mosque and both suspects are dead, police say
- Man accused of sharing child porn on Snapchat
A.J. DeMoss told News Center 7 that helping people is what drives him.
“I feel like my capabilities should be put towards helping someone is what I really want to do with my life,” DeMoss said.
He thinks being a firefighter would be a good fit.
To achieve that goal, he’s now two months into a new firefighter apprenticeship program.
It’s a partnership between Montgomery County and Harrison Township.
Both communities said it’s aimed at producing more-prepared candidates for firefighting jobs and having fewer vacancies at local departments facing staffing shortages and higher call volumes.
“Yeah, so this profession as a whole is definitely struggling. We’ve had to come up with new and out-of-the-box thoughts on how to actually work on recruitment. This field as a whole, again, state and nationwide has a dwindling workforce,” Harrison Township Fire Department Chief Michael Crist said.
Montgomery County will pay for tuition, books, and course-related fees for the fire and EMS training.
“(It) costs families quite a bit to be able to get a young person through the safety program. And for the county to come along and to take care of those responsibilities, it’s going to be a great thing for that family,” Montgomery County Commissioner Mary McDonald said.
“The payoff for us will be great public servants for years and years to come,” Montgomery County Commissioner Carolyn Rice said.
And on top of that, apprentices aged 18 to 24 who do classroom work at the firehouse will get paid for the job training.
“Getting into that anxiety field and trying to get over that, overcoming it when you’re on the call, it really throws you into the deep end, but it really helps out too,” DeMoss said.
After the apprentices graduate in two years, Crist said the hope is they’d get hired at Harrison Township or another fire department in the Dayton region.
However, their certification will allow them to get hired anywhere in Ohio.
[SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
