Today, six former Oswego firefighters suited up for duty for the first time with the Syracuse Fire Department.
It was a fortunate turn of events for six men whose positions were axed in Oswego, and for the SFD, which lost an unusually high number of recruits in its most recent class.
Bill Ryan, chief of staff for Mayor Stephanie Miner, called the deal a win-win for Syracuse today. He orchestrated the deal, along with Miner and fire chief Paul Linnertz after seeing that Oswego was cutting 16 firefighter positions in its 2017 budget.
According to Ryan, the city will save money by hiring the former Oswego firefighters.
In Syracuse, it costs about $25,000 to train a new firefighter. The Oswego firefighters will cost just $3,000 each for job training as they learn SFD protocols and procedures.