PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — The Phoenix Fire Department is getting nearly $8 million to hire dozens of people. The City Council unanimously approved the cash on Wednesday. The money will create 58 new positions in the 2023-2024 fiscal year. “This will place more resources in the system that will improve response times so that we can help our residents as quickly as possible,” Phoenix Fire Chief Mike Duran said in a news release from the city.
While officials didn’t say what all the new positions would be, some of the new jobs would be with the fire department’s air and rescue unit. Others will be working at Phoenix Fire Station 62, which is expected to break ground near 99th Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road soon. “It is important to hire the staff prior to the completion of Fire Station 62 so that we can hit the ground running,” Chief Duran said. “In the interim, we can benefit from the added personnel.”
The department hopes that it’ll help with response times. In October, the firefighters union told Arizona’s Family that during the last decade, the department’s response times, on average, have gone from five minutes to nine minutes. Acceptable response times for fire calls are five minutes and 20 seconds for 90% of calls, according to the National Fire Protection Association. For more information about jobs at the Phoenix Fire Department, click/tap here.
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