By The Public Communications Office
In this episode of “Stuff You Don’t Usually See,” Marketing Coordinator Grace Hallowell and CSFD Capt. Stuart Marrs discuss what it takes to become a College Station firefighter and the benefits that come with it.
Transcript
Grace Hallowell:
Hello everyone. My name is Grace Hallowell with the City of College Station, and today my guest is Stu, the Fire Guy. And today we’re going to talk about the fire hiring process, correct?
Stuart Marrs:
That’s right. College Station Fire Department is hiring.
Grace Hallowell:
Awesome. Yes, I know we have been looking for some team members to add to your growing team. So what can you tell us about the hiring process?
Stuart Marrs:
Sure. So we need more firefighters. We’re going to build another fire station in College Station. That got passed by the voters. So College Station Fire Department Station Seven is going to be built in the next few years and we need more firefighters. So, we’re doing a recruitment effort right now, and there’s something a little different about this one. In the past, we’ve only allowed applicants who were certified, meaning they had to go through Fire Academy and EMS Academy on their own before they applied. Now we are accepting applications for people who are not certified. So we will send people through Fire Academy and EMS Academy after they’re hired. So you’ll be an employee of the City of College Station and we will send you and sponsor you through Fire Academy and EMS Academy. That process should take about eight months after you’re hired.
Grace Hallowell:
Wow, that’s a really great opportunity.
Stuart Marrs:
It really is a great opportunity. In the past, you’d have to put up to $8,000 of your own money into your education, but now if you have 12 hours of college or military experience, you can apply for the position of firefighter and we will put you through the Academy.
Grace Hallowell:
Perfect. Yeah, that’s a really great thing, especially, I know times are tough now with the pandemic and everything. So what does that training entail? Is it here locally? Is it located elsewhere?
Stuart Marrs:
Yes, because we have TEKS in our own backyard here in College Station, a lot of the training is going to be done through there or Blinn College. We have two options for training for EMS and fire. So candidates will stay local and do some of that training. Also, some of it may be online. There’s an online option for Fire Academy now also. So candidates won’t have to travel out of town to do their training. They can do it right here in College Station.
Grace Hallowell:
And that’s helpful for different learners. I graduated from an online high school, so I know having that option, it’s a really good thing. So what else can you tell us?
Stuart Marrs:
Well, you’re right about that. Because of the pandemic, people are used to the online format now and people can be very successful with the online format right now. So that’s working out for us. Also, we are hiring people who are certified, so if you’re already certified and if you’ve already been working as a firefighter, that’s great. We want you to apply also right now. And we offer up to four years of lateral transfers. So if you have up to four years of experience, we’ll count that towards your pay here in College Station. We’ll bring you in laterally.
Grace Hallowell:
Wow, that’s a really awesome thing too.
Stuart Marrs:
Yeah, it sure is. What usually what happens is if you change departments, you would have to start over at the bottom of the pay scale. Now you can start based on your experience and that experience comes with you.
Grace Hallowell:
Perfect. So what is a typical shift like at the College Station Fire Department? I know that might be tough to answer and every shift might be different, but what is a day in the life of a College Station firefighter look like?
Stuart Marrs:
In College Station we do a 24/48 schedule, meaning that we work for 24 hours and then we have 48 hours off and firefighters work at six different fire stations. We have six engines, two ladder trucks, and four ambulances with one peak ambulance right now. So you’re either on the ambulance, or you’re on a fire engine, or you’re on a ladder truck. And we respond to 52 square miles in College Station, including Texas A&M University, and we cover the population of about 129,000 people. Plus we go into Bryan for mutual and automatic aid, and we help with Brazos County EMS.
Grace Hallowell:
Perfect. Yeah, I know it kind of seems like a large area when you think about it and having seven, well, potentially seven now that we’re growing fire stations is very helpful.
Stuart Marrs:
Yeah, it is. We’re building that seventh fire station so we can reduce response times in Southern College Station.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. Awesome. So what else about the hiring process? Are there any incentives for signing on, like a sign-on bonus or anything like that? I know that’s something that people are looking for nowadays.
Stuart Marrs:
Yes, there is. If you’re a paramedic and a firefighter, certified paramedic, certified firefighter, when you come to College Station you’ll get a $5,000 sign-on bonus.
Grace Hallowell:
Wow, that’s pretty substantial.
Stuart Marrs:
Yeah, that helps out a lot. It helps kind of recoup that cost that you put forward into your training on your own.
Grace Hallowell:
So what is the typical annual salary or annual pay for a firefighter or EMS worker?
Stuart Marrs:
Well, that’s a good question. All of the information about our pay and our benefits and requirements and disqualifications and what we do on shift, that’s all online cstx.gov/fire. You can find all that information online, so you can take your time and read through it. But just real quickly, if you are hired at College Station Fire Department and you’re not certified, you’ll make about $53,000 a year until you’re certified and then you’ll bump up to $56,000 a year.
Grace Hallowell:
Gotcha.
Stuart Marrs:
And again, the whole pay scale and everything is posted online, so you can see what you would be making if you were a four-year firefighter. If you came in with four years of experience, you’d be able to see what you make. You’ll be able to look forward and say, “Well, once I’ve been in College Station Fire Department for 10 years, or if I’m promoted to driver engineer or if I’m promoted to paramedic two, or if I’m promoted to captain or battalion chief,” you’ll be able to see what those ranks are making as well.
Grace Hallowell:
Yeah, that’s a good option, especially for planning and career planning to be able to see if you can move up and what you’ll make there.
Stuart Marrs:
Well, we also offer education pay and incentive pay. So if you have an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree, we pay extra for that. We pay extra for just having your paramedic certification; $2,400 extra a year. For every 24 hours that you work on the ambulance, so every shift you get an extra $120 in your pay.
So if you work five shifts on the ambulance that month, you get that extra money in your paycheck that month. We have specialized teams in College Station. We have an ARF team that’s airport rescue firefighters because we have an airport here, Eastwood Airport. So we have our firefighters, we have special teams for hazmat, we have special teams for swift water Rescue. We have a bike paramedic team that helps down at Northgate on football weekends and they go to Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater for concerts and anywhere there’s a lot of people gathered together, and we might have a tough time accessing that area with an ambulance, we send our bike paramedics to that. So there’s opportunity for a lot of specialized teams if you become a firefighter in College Station. And that comes with extra pay.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. And lots of opportunities for growth there too.
Stuart Marrs:
That’s an important point, because when Station Seven comes, we’re going to make promotions to put captains into that fire station and put drivers at that fire station. And so, if you get on now with the College Station Fire Department, if you apply between now and when our application closes on January 26th, then you’ll be right in that group who is going to be ready to fill that fire station, Fire Station Seven. And hopefully you can catch some promotions in four or five years.
Grace Hallowell:
Perfect. Well, anything else?
Stuart Marrs:
So one thing people have to consider when they’re thinking about applying for a new job is what’s it going to be like to live in College Station? What is my spouse going to do if we move to College Station? So there’s great opportunities in college stations for your spouse. There’s three big hospitals here. There’s an excellent school system to work for. There’s a lot of technology in College Station, in Bryan and College Station. A lot of technology jobs to look into.
So there’s lots of opportunities for your spouse and for your kids. If you’re bringing a family with you, there’s great parks, there’s great schools, there’s great things to do on the weekend because of Texas A&M being here. So, your family will have a lot to do here in Bryan-College Station if you make the move to the College Station Fire Department.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes, and I can attest to that. I moved for my spouse about a year ago and we were a little unsure at first, but we are so happy here and it’s a great community. You’ll meet your people fast and you’ll want to stay for sure.
Stuart Marrs:
Yeah, you will.
Grace Hallowell:
Well, if you’re looking to find out more, you can always check the website, CSTX.gov/fire. And you guys are on Facebook and Twitter as well, correct?
Stuart Marrs:
We’re on Facebook and Instagram. You can go back and look at what previous posts and kind and get an idea of what we do at the fire department, what kind of calls we run, and what we’re doing in the community.
Grace Hallowell:
All right. Well thank you so much for coming today. And that’s Stuff You Don’t Usually See.
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