Denver Fire Department won’t train new firefighters, EMTs this year

For the first time in years the Denver Fire Department won t train new firefighters this year because the agency is fully staffed a spokesman endorsed Monday Fire authorities last week decided to postpone the start of a new training academy until because the department is at of its fully authorized strength of employees spokesman JD Chism mentioned The last time the department went a full year without holding at least one training academy was in he declared The city s Civil Provision Commission notified applicants on Friday that the emergency health technician training expected to start in May and the firefighter training expected to start in July were both postponed until executive director Gracie Perez reported The commission will continue to move people through the hiring process so that the city has a pool of qualified applicants when the training academies reopen next year Perez declared The commission has about people in the running for the EMT training academy and expected recruits for the firefighter academy she mentioned Another applicants for the jobs at the fire department have already been screened out she reported Related Articles How fast should an ambulance get to you Denver s response-time goals are unmet and likely unrealistic audit finds PHOTOS Denver s longest continually running firehouse and Black firefighters who served get historic honor Denver firefighter accuses HGTV show local contractor of botching home project Denver Fire Department assistant chief fired for bringing AR- to residents park during mental fitness predicament The city had expected to hire eight EMT recruits and firefighter recruits in Perez disclosed The number of recruits in each academy class and the number of classes per year regularly vary depending on the fire department s staffing necessities The Denver Fire Department expects only retirements in which would put the agency at about of its full staffing at the end of the year Chism mentioned It has nothing to do with budget it s all related to staffing demands he declared The pause on new firefighters comes as both the Denver Police Department and the Denver Sheriff Department have struggled to maintain full staffing in new years Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day