June 10--The competition to land a job as a Las Vegas firefighter is heating up after a pool of 500 applicants was filled in less than half an hour Monday morning.
It took only 24 minutes to receive the maximum 500 applications for the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue firefighter trainee program after the job was posted on the city's website at 7:30 a.m. today.
About two dozen people will be chosen to enter the department's academy and ultimately become firefighters upon graduating.
Applicants, who must have Emergency Medical Technician certification and a high school diploma or equivalent, will continue the competitive process with a written exam that is scheduled for July 22-25.
Candidates identified to move forward will take a physical ability test.
The city hadn't planned to recruit more firefighters this summer but decided to do so after a cheating scandal in the previous class led to 14 recruits not graduating in February.
The entire class was dismissed after suspicions of cheating were raised on a written exam, costing the city $718,984, or $51,356 per recruit, in salaries, benefits and training costs.
The dismissed recruits were allowed to reapply on Monday, but they must compete with the rest of the 500 applicants for the job.
Copyright 2013 - Las Vegas Sun
