Maryland County Lowers Standards To Fill 100 New Jobs

April 12, 2006
The epartment will have a "fourth shift" that will go into effect Jan. 1, 2006 and deal with its attrition problem.

The county Fire Department is losing firefighters almost as fast as it can hire them, leading officials to lower standards for new recruits.

The county Personnel Office has started giving passing grades to new hires who correctly answer 60 percent of questions on a written test - the equivalent of a low D in a county grade school. The previous standard was 70 percent.

Over objections from the union that represents the county's firefighters, the department also has cut an intensive physical conditioning course from 12 weeks to a couple of hours.

The changes were made as the department tries to fill more than 100 new positions to fully staff a new "fourth shift" that will go into effect Jan. 1 and deal with an attrition problem that has sapped 125 firefighters from its ranks in the past three years.

Forty-nine of those firefighters quit within a year of being hired, according to data released yesterday by the county auditor.

Currently, county firefighters work one 24-hour shift and get two days off. Starting next year, they will work one 24-hour shift, then get three days off.

Mark Atkisson, county personnel officer, explained his office made it easier to pass the written test because too many minority candidates were failing to score a 70. He added that the authors of the test say even a 54 percent score shows a prospective firefighter can succeed academically at a fire academy and that the 70 percent pass/fail score was set "arbitrarily" by his office.

County Fire Chief Ronald D. Blackwell supported the changes.

"I wouldn't perceive it as lowering our standards," he said, noting that there was "no science" behind the old 70 percent score.

Carl Snowden, a civil rights activist and aide to County Executive Janet S. Owens, commended the county's efforts to hire more minority firefighters - including the lowering of the pass/fail line.

"Tests are only one measure," he said. "I don't think there are any efforts to dumb down the department."

Chief Blackwell said it is a goal of his and the county to make the department reflect the community's diversity.

"We aren't going to do that by diminishing the quality of the people going into the department though," he said.

Bob Stevens, president of Professional Fire Fighters Local 1563, which represents the county's firefighters, said the easing of the written test "concerns" him, but he doesn't think it will weaken the department.

"They (the recruits) will still have to pass the tests down at the academy," he said, adding that the department "is not giving away jobs"

As for the old "Candidate Physical Ability Test," Chief Blackwell said he had to do away with it because it takes too long to complete to be feasible during the current hiring push.

Applicants used to spend 12 weeks training with a firefighter to pass the test, which included a stair climb, hose drag, equipment carry, dummy rescue, and other activities that emulated common firefighter duties.

Now, the department determines if an applicant is physically fit by looking at timed runs, bench presses, push ups, sit ups, and vertical jump, with minimums set by an applicant's sex and age.

Fire officials noted that the CPAT was only used for two academy classes and before that, there was no physical agility test.

High attrition

Chief Blackwell said older firefighters are walking into his office almost daily to announce their retirements and that new hires are quick to leave the department for better pay in Montgomery and Baltimore counties and other neighboring jurisdictions.

"They have not been bashful about leaving," he told the County Council yesterday, explaining many firefighters also live in other jurisdictions and don't want to commute.

Chief Blackwell was called before the council to answer questions about the high turnover and soaring overtime bills that are projected to reach $8.8 million for the year ending June 30. That's $6 million more than the county put in the budget.

The retention problems, several councilmen contended, need to be addressed to curb future overtime bills.

Chief Blackwell said supervisors are working to keep new firefighters from leaving by adopting a "more personal touch" with recruits, talking to them on the phone and making sure they are comfortable with the department and feel like part of a team.

He added that the department is working with the Office of Law to recoup training expenses from the firefighters who leave the department for other jurisdictions shortly after graduating from the academy. Attrition is so bad, Chief Blackwell plans to hire 105 to 110 new firefighters to fill about 20 currently open firefighter positions. The department is authorized to have 833 firefighters and now has a little over 800.

Keeping the troops

Several councilmen questioned if the county had made it too easy to get into the academy.

"Maybe there is a misconception about what actually is going on," said County Councilman Ron Dillon Jr., fearing new hires think it will be as thrilling as it is in the movies.

He suggested requiring prospective firefighters ride along with a real firefighter for a day to see how heavy and hot the equipment can be.

"We are trying to make sure when we hire them, they stay," added Council Chairman Ed Reilly, in support of the idea. He said it serves no purpose to hire someone who will quit once they find out how hard it is to be a firefighter.

Chief Blackwell said a shortage of paramedics, not applicants, is driving up the department's overtime expenses because he is having to take firefighters off the streets to send them to college for advanced life support training.

"The fourth shift has not proven to be the enhancement we thought," Chief Blackwell said.

In September, Chief Blackwell sent 41 firefighters - twice as many people as budgeted - to Anne Arundel Community College and the Community College of Baltimore County in Essex full-time to get advanced life support training.

They have since graduated, but another 29 firefighters headed to school full-time in January, with another 21 going part-time. The department has been forced to rely on overtime to cover the open shifts.

Chief Blackwell downplayed the overtime problem yesterday, noting that the department will save $3 million on unspent salaries this year and be reimbursed $500,000 from the federal government for their response to Hurricane Katrina and some special training. The county gave the department $7.73 million more this fiscal year than last.

He said new leave rules that go into effect Jan. 1, giving firefighters less discretion on when they take off, will ultimately let the department save on overtime.

Published April 12, 2006, The Capital, Annapolis, Md. Copyright

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