Next month, the Fire Department will send five new recruits for training at the Westchester County Fire Training Center in Valhalla.
Starting March 19, the recruits will spend 19 weeks in training to learn basic firefighting skills. Fire Chief Louis DiMeglio said the department will pay for the cost of tuition, roughly $3,500 per recruit. While in training, recruits receive a base salary that starts at $38,000.
The cost of training and the base salary come from the department's budget, which comes to just over $31 million for 2018.
The department accepts recruits when necessary to replace retirees, DiMeglio said. The last time the department accepted recruits was last year.
All of the new recruits are New Rochelle residents. There are currently 155 firefighters in the city's fire department.