The Fairfield Fire Department is asking the city to hire nine new full-time firefighter positions over the next four years. Part-time employees leaving for full-time jobs continues to be a problem many departments face, said Fairfield Fire Chief Don Bennett. Fairfield has seen 119 part-time firefighters leave its ranks for full-time jobs elsewhere, and the department is required to often hire inexperienced firefighters who on average stay just longer than 16 months.
To fund the positions, the city would be required to seek a levy as early as November 2021, according to city officials. What a levy would look like is yet to be determined. If City Council approves increasing the number of front-line firefighters from 30 to 39, the department would need to be subsidized by $1.4 million from the general fund by 2024, said Finance Director Scott Timmer.