It has long been the case that the Lockwood Fire Department has been frustrated with the loss of newly trained firefighters to other districts in the state. Assistant Fire Chief Karim Eshbaugh suggested that the district should reevaluate what it is they do. Rather than running a “Reserve Program,” he said, the district is running a “Training Program.” His suggestion is to “develop a training school in a better way for the district.”
The idea was well received by the Lockwood Fire District Board last Wednesday.
It’s really nice to talk to other districts in the state and have them comment on what a great employee they were able to hire who was trained at Lockwood, said Fire Chief John Staley, but the loss of those trainees means Lockwood only gets the benefit of them serving in their Reserve for only a year or a year – and-a –half, after the district has spent $4000 to $5000 on training them.
Training at Lockwood and the hands-on–experience has a reputation as being very good, and a candidate who has completed the training is usually an automatic hire in other districts, said Staley.
“We are training them to prepare them to work somewhere else,” said Eshbaugh, adding, “A ton of them are in Billings, actually.”
Eshbaugh’s suggestion is to develop a training program in which they “monetize” the program, charging a fee to cover training costs. They would expand the program to cover Fire Fighter 1, Fire Fighter 2, EMT and paramedic training for which students would get certification and get all their training over a year and -a- half or two years.
An advantage of the training over other schools or training programs would be the opportunity to get real life experience as reserve fire fighters with Lockwood. Chief Staley pointed out that since Lockwood pays their reservists, the students would have an opportunity to defray the costs of training.
They estimate that they could have between 12 and 20 students per session.
One of the most intriguing aspects about the proposal is the opportunity to work with Lockwood High School in introducing students to a career opportunity, said Staley.
The training program would be a benefit for locals to get training without having to relocate, while at the same time attracting students from other areas to Lockwood and Billings to get the training.
Speaking of reserves, Eshbaugh reported that the district had interviewed nine candidate and accepted five of them as new reserves.
Staley also reported that they have begun surveying and staking out boundaries on the new property the district purchased adjacent to the fire station. The property was purchased in order to build a training facility. Once it has been surveyed, the district will sell the portion of the property they will not be using.
Eshbaugh said that the district has mailed out 500 letters to paramedics in Montana and throughout the region in search of filling job positions in Lockwood. Closing date for applications is October 22.
Union representatives reported that Local 3658 had a very successful “boot drive,” and are organizing for Santa’s visit to the District in December. They are ordering supplies two months in advance in anticipation of potential delivery delays.
