The Safety and Licensing Committee met 02/12/2025. There were two items on the agenda that pertained to the fire department. One was Resolution 1-R-25 regarding the Fire Department’s paramedic service level. This was approved unanimously by the committee. The second was the Fire Department hiring update during which the committee was told the Fire Department had 4 openings and had received 60 applications.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
The resolution regarding the Fire Department’s paramedic service level was submitted by Alderperson William Siebers (District 1). It signaled the Common Council’s support for the Fire Department to move its medical service level to Paramedic Non-Transport.
The Fire Department has been working on increasing the level of medical care it can provide and, over the last few years, has moved from a first responder level of care, to EMT Basic, to paramedic. By July of 2025, they wanted to upgrade their service level to Paramedic Non-Transport.
Fire Chief Jeremy Hansen told the committee that this resolution was a procedural part of the process to upgrade. One of the items the state required was for the Fire Department to be able to show the approval for the move by the elected city officials.
The resolution was recommended for approval by a vote of 5-1.
Chief Hansen also provided an update on the Fire Department hiring process. The Department has 4 retirements this year
Back in February of 2024 Chief Hansen had reported on how the Fire Department was moving its hiring process in-house after Fox Valley Technical College stopped providing the regional hiring process it used to provide.
Under this new, in-house process, the Fire Department received 60 applications for the 4 positions. After interviews with HR and line staff, 12 were moved forward to the Chief’s Panel which ended up approve 10 candidates to come before the Police and Fire Commission. Their goal was to hire for the four open positions by the middle of May.
Additionally, a newer firefighter has received orders that he is going to be deployed to Kuwait in May. Chief Hansen said he hoped to do an over-hire for that position so that someone could fill that role for the 12-18 months the firefighter would be deployed.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1254915&GUID=CA5FE7B8-46D7-4A0A-A83F-58984B187DB4
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