If you’re 18 and would like to become a firefighter in Salmon Arm, your wish is closer to coming true.
Salmon Arm Fire Chief Brad Shirley received approval from city council on Sept. 14 to go ahead with lowering the minimum age requirement from 19 to 18 years.
Shirley explained that many other paid on call fire departments in the province now have 18 as their minimum.
He said because it takes at least a year to complete recruit training, anyone starting the program would be 19 by the time they were finished.
Shirley also said lowering the age might provide a few more younger recruits.
Another change he requested was getting rid of the three-month probation required following successful completion of recruit training.
The three-month probation goes back to a time when recruit class was only three months long, he explained. At that time, it was felt more time was required to adequately assess the candidate.
Now that the recruit class is a year-plus, “it gives us time to really look at a candidate and make sure they’re suitable,” he said.
The longer time also enables recruits to conduct all firefighter duties upon completion of the class where currently they must complete the addition three-month probation period.
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marthawickett@saobserver.net
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