PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
NEENAH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The fire rescue department in the communities of Neenah and Menasha has found itself in a position that isn’t all that unique: a shrinking applicant pool.
“The last hiring session we did in 2024, the applicant pool was down to maybe 15-20 candidates. That used to be a candidate pool where we would see 30, 40 to 50 candidates,” says Travis Teesch, fire chief for Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue.
Teesch says they’re not the only ones seeing it, but as smaller volunteer departments turn to full-time, and as other departments increase staff due to higher call volumes, their recruiting ground shrinks.
“There’s more jobs available than there are people filling those spots,” Teesch says. That’s great for those looking for a job, he says, but difficult for departments when hiring.
Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue already has slightly less requirements for applicants compared to other departments, since they don’t run an ambulance service. That means candidates don’t require paramedic certifications.
“I’ve always felt like a department like Neenah-Menasha would be the last one to feel a pinch of a hiring or recruitment kind of thing, but we’re starting to feel that,” Teesch adds.
So, they’re making a change. Along with the standard Firefighter I and Firefighter II, fire inspector and driver engineer certifications, just to name a few, Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue also required candidates to have an associate’s degree in fire science, fire protection or a related field.
But not anymore. On Tuesday, the Neenah-Menasha Joint Fire Commission agreed to change that requirement.
Instead of a fire-specific associate’s degree, the department now just requires candidates to have 60 college credits, no matter what courses they are in.
“That kind of came about with really two encounters I’ve had with people recently who were on volunteer fire departments,” Teesch says. “[They] had a lot of those certificates that we already look for, had degrees in other areas. I think one had a bachelor’s in IT-related fields. But for him to be eligible to apply here, he’d need an associate degree. Well, 60 college credits equals an associate’s degree, and if you have that and those certifications, it opens are candidacy pool a little bit.”
As long as you have the standard fire certifications and 60 college credits, you’re eligible to work for Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue.
While the change may not open the floodgates, Teesch believes it’s certainly enough to get a few more people through the door.
“We want to stay ahead of the curve, so be proactive instead of reactive,” he says.
However, Teesch stresses that requirements vary from department to department. This change is simply what works best for his department and community, he says.
Comments