One recruit has waited since she was a child, another spent the last two years hovering on the sidelines and a third took a retail sales job for pay.
But finally the Chattanooga Fire Department called.
Friday marked the beginning of 26 weeks of fire training for 23 recruits.
Training Chief Mack Moore said the department regularly receives 300 to 400 applications for its fire academy slots. With the down economy, that number has escalated, Moore said.
Recruit Anjail Gibbs jokes that her friends say she was born “wearing turnout gear” – the uniform and equipment worn by firefighters.
The 29-year-old mother put her dream on hold and worked as a personal trainer, physical therapist and emergency medical technician until she could spare the time away from her 12-year-old son to become a firefighter.
“You do a job like this because you love what you do, not for the paycheck,” she said.
BY THE NUMBERSOn the job:* 389: Total department personnel* 98: Black firefighters* 287: White firefighters* 3: Hispanic firefightersIn training:* 23: Current class* 6: Black recruits* 16: White recruits* 1: Hispanic recruitSource: Chattanooga Fire Department
It costs the department $24,600 to train each recruit over the six-month academy. Starting pay upon graduation is $32,077, according to the department.
Class diversity closely mirrors the department – 25 percent of the department is black, 73 percent white. The newest training class is 26 percent black and 70 percent white.
Andrew Thomas graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a criminal justice degree two years ago, applied to the fire department and, in the meantime, got certification as an EMT.
While in clinical training, he worked alongside firefighters and “just fell in love with it,” he said.
Over the course of the training, recruits will don their gear daily and study fire equipment use, vehicle extrication and medical and hazardous materials certification, Moore said.
Two decades ago, when Moore went through the academy, it was more basic – 11 weeks – and all specialized training was done on the job.
He said the new, extended academy means graduates can fit seamlessly into a coordinated team when they get that first call.
Kim Honish Jr., 24, moved to Chattanooga one year ago from Midland, Texas, to be closer to family. He’d already worked as a firefighter but had to reapply and must certify through the new academy before joining the city department.
While waiting for the next class to open, Honish took a retail sales job while he passed the written, physical and background checks with the department.
“I’m looking forward to getting back into this kind of work,” he said.