The Long Beach Fire Department recently hired five new paid, professional firefighters to its force, city officials announced.
The five recruits, Long Beach residents Alexander Sharpe, Michael Seeman, Brian Olson, Bryan Jones and Christopher Koehle, were sworn in Sept. 28. Three of them will begin a 17-week training course this month at Westchester Career Fire Academy and the other two will attend the academy next March.
“We feel we now have adequate staffing,” City Manager Charles Theofan said.
Find out what's happening in Long Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The new hires will replace the professional firefighters who retired or were promoted, he said, and will fill in when some firefighters are injured or fall ill in the line of duty.
This was the first time recruits were required to be certified as EMTs before they could be hired as professional Long Beach firefighters. About 85 percent of calls that paid firefighters respond to are medical emergencies, so the EMT certification should come in handy, Theofan explained.
Find out what's happening in Long Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“They are always around to respond to emergencies with an extremely quick response time,” he added.
In addition to the paid force that is headquartered at City Hall, a volunteer squad is stationed in both the East End and West End.
Theofan said past discussions had focused on reducing the number of paid firefighters or disbanding the force altogether to save money. He said prior administrations have considered “doing away with the paid firefighters.”
“I will not compromise safety,” he said. “I hope the time doesn’t come where that becomes a reality.”
When the new recruits graduate from the training program in Westchester, they will join the professional firefighters at City Hall, bringing the number of paid firefighters to 33. That number includes three that were hired at the beginning of 2011.
Theofan said hiring additional firefighters should also help cut down on overtime.
Sam Pinto, a professional firefighter in Long Beach, said the city had the option of reducing staffing, but it was not in the best interest of the public’s safety or the safety of the firefighters.
“There were vacancies and the void needed to be filled," Pinto said. "With the [paid] firefighters, you get an immediate response 24/7. It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity.”
City Councilman Len Torres said he supports the hiring of additional firefighters, but questioned how their salaries will be funded.
“We are not being told where the money is coming from,” Torres said. “We have to provide solid money. That’s our concern.”
Theofan responded that the money is in the budget to pay for the new hires.
Billy Piazza, president of the Long Beach Professional Firefighters Association, said the union was not consulted about the new hires.
“We’ve been requesting to be kept in the loop a little bit,” Piazza said. “But this administration feels that it does not need our input. We do welcome [the new recruits] with open arms and will move forward. Even though this was a bit of a surprise, we will never turn away more manpower.”
* This story was updated at 7:15 p.m. on Oct. 14.
