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Sparks firefighters and union leaders urge council to retain five recruits nearing graduation
Summary
At the May 12 council meeting multiple fire department speakers and union representatives asked the council to retain five firefighter recruits who will graduate from the academy in weeks, warning that losing them would waste training investments and reduce staffing as Station 6 opens and retirements occur.
Several speakers at the Sparks City Council public-comment period on May 12 urged the council to retain five firefighter recruits who are scheduled to graduate from the fire academy in a matter of weeks.
For the record, Nick Curran, a fire captain and academy commander for the Sparks Fire Academy, told the council the recruits had completed extensive training paid for by the city, including paramedic school, and that losing them would "hand[] over a ready-made workforce to other fire departments who would gladly benefit from our investment without contributing a single dollar to their training." Curran said he had been contacted by "four other departments" that would hire the recruits if Sparks released them.
Union leaders echoed the request. "Sparks Fire Department has been doing more…
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