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15 take oath as new Warren firefighters
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Warren Safety-Service Director Doug Franklin, center, and fire Chief Ken Nussle, left, swear in 15 new city firefighters Thursday. To the far right is Mayor Michael O’Brien.
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Fifteen young men from all over Northeast Ohio took their place on the front steps of city hall Thursday to take the oath as new Warren firefighters.
In groups of two and three, they will report for duty today through Wednesday to jobs made possible by a two-year, $5 million federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response program grant.
“It’s a historic time,” Mayor Michael O’Brien said. “Never in recent history have we hired 15 firefighters at one time.”
O’Brien said Warren’s SAFER grant was the largest one, per-capita, that the federal government provided anywhere in the country.
It paid for the department to bring back 10 laid-off firefighters in October and November and will pay the salary and benefits for the 15 new firefighters through November 26, 2012, said Fire Chief Ken Nussle.
The grant allows the department to bring its staffing level back to 75 firefighters, which is the same number it had in late 2008 before the layoff of 11 firefighters.
The fire department must stay at the 75-firefighter level through Nov. 26, 2012, or repay some of the grant, Nussle said. After that date, when the city has to pick up the cost to keep the workers, the city might have to make layoffs, though Nussle said he’s hopeful that won’t be necessary.
“I’m excited about it,” Al Rivalsky Jr. of Poland, 29, said of his new job. “It’s really hard to get a full-time position. I’ve been applying for eight to 10 years in various departments. It’s going to be nice to get a full-time shot at something, even if it’s for a short time.”
Rivalsky has been working part time for the Liberty and Canfield fire departments and as a volunteer for the Springfield Township and Poland fire departments.
“It’s so hard to get in,” said Jonathan Stull, 28, of Wooster. “No matter what department you get in, whether it’s a grant or not, you just have to be happy to get the job.”
“We are just so proud of him,” said Martha Guld of Akron, who came to Warren on Thursday to watch her son, Michael Guld, 31, of Akron, take the oath. “He’s worked so hard to get to this point.”
The additional staffing will enable all three fire stations to be manned on a “consistent basis” for the first time since late 2008, just before the layoff. The station in South Street has remained open; the Parkman Road station reopened Jan. 27; the Atlantic Street station will reopen as soon as enough firefighters have their turnout gear and have had orientation.
The contract approved by the firefighters union in February created a separate wage scale for the new hires. They will make $12.56 per hour for the first two years, based on a 52-hour week, or $33,962 per year. That rate rises to $12.91 the third year, $13.99 the fourth year, $15.06 the fifth year and $16.14 the sixth year.
Firefighters with at least three years of experience make $17.93 per hour, or $48,483 annually.
One woman and no minorities passed the civil-service test given in December to qualify for one of the 15 new jobs. Nussle said he doesn’t know whether any minorities took the test.
Jaci L. Stalnaker of Salem, the female candidate, notified Nussle recently that she did not pass the physical-agility test administered at Cuyahoga County Community College, so she was not eligible to be hired. She will remain on the civil-service list and will remain eligible to be hired if she passes the test later, Nussle said. The department has never had a woman firefighter.
Among those hired, several are from nearby: Rivalsky of Poland, Thomas Canita of Garrettsville, Carson Stone III of Mantua and Daniel Edwards of Mantua.
The others are Corey Sanzone of Coventry Township, Ryan Falck of Uniontown, Adam Dodson of Medina, Joseph Bartolone of Massillon, Jeffrey Tylicki of Northfield Center, Ryan Mackey of Willoughby, Timothy Fruh of Mentor, Guld of Akron, Adam Parks of Geneva, Matthew Dietrick of Mogadore and Stull of Wooster.