MN Department to Add Nine Full-Time FFs In 2020

Dec. 21, 2019
The additions are part of a move started in the spring by the Brooklyn Park Fire Department to eliminate paid on-call firefighters and switch to a full-time model.

A Minnesota fire department is adding nine firefighters as it transitions to a new service model.

The additional firefighters are part of the Brooklyn Park Fire Department's move from paid on-call firefighters to full-time crews, CCX Media reports. The change to the full-time firefighters began in the spring, and it will allow the department to staff the East Fire Station, which has been unstaffed for three years.

With the new firefighters, the department's 2020 budget will increase to $800,000. Chief John Cunningham originally had said the move to full time wouldn't add any costs to the department's budget, CCX Media added.