VIDEO: Typically, to be hired at Lubbock Fire Rescue, you had to be both firefighter and EMT certified. Now applicants don’t have to be certified in either to apply.
LFR Captain Phillip Grandon says the traditional model worked for a while but times are changing. LFR used to receive up to 400 applications in a given hiring season but lately, it has been getting under 100. He says every industry is dealing with labor shortages, so the department had to try something different.
“Fire service is not immune to that either,” Grandon said. “So, we have to basically go out and get people and say, ‘Hey, come work for us, and we’re going to train you’ instead of you having to go out and seek that training yourself.”
Firefighter Grandon says anyone from any background who wants to give public safety a chance, should. The requirement now is an applicant needs a high school diploma or GED and be between the ages of 18 and 35. Grandon explains the applicant must be 35 or younger by January 2024.