Fire Chief Keith Kneisley and city leaders introduced more than a dozen newly hired firefighters at the Huber Heights City Council meeting on Oct. 27, outlining a multi-year strategy that combines firefighter-EMT hires, apprenticeships and targeted recruitment to increase daily staffing.

The presentation, delivered during the council’s regular session, highlighted that the city ‘‘now have[s] a full staff of 48 fire firefighters,’’ and that the department has added 14 positions over the last three years. ‘‘We're forecasting about 60% of the year we'll have 18 [on duty],’’ Kneisley said, and noted a daily staffing average of 17 per day under current operations.

The hires included firefighter-paramedics, firefighter-EMTs and several participants in a new high-school apprenticeship pathway. Kneisley named specific new employees during the presentation, including firefighter-paramedics Harley Wells, Luke Sorensen and Connor Whalen and firefighter-EMTs Abby Dodge and Ben Vince, who were described as graduates of a career-technical program. Captain Johnny Schall, Assistant Chief Mike Ball and Assistant Chief Ken Stiefel also participated in introducing and pinning badges.

Kneisley told the council the department adjusted hiring to capture candidates earlier in their training pipeline after many paramedic students already held full-time positions by the time the city recruited them. ‘‘We realized that we needed to capture some of these students before they got into paramedic class,’’ he said, explaining the rationale for hiring firefighter-EMTs and apprentices from local career-technical programs.

Council members and city officials praised the program during brief remarks, with Mayor Gore saying he ‘‘can’t express how happy I am to see young people entering [the] ambulance’’ and calling the program ‘‘creative thinking’’ to retain talent locally. Multiple council members and community members attending the ceremony thanked families for sharing the new hires with the city.

Officials said the new staffing model creates training savings that can be redirected to recruitment, and that the program emphasizes character and work ethic in addition to technical skills. The council was told that recruits recently completed live-burn and vehicle-operation training and would transition to shift work following orientation.

Details provided during the presentation indicate an effort to build a local pipeline: two high-school apprentices were hired last year and were moved into full-time positions after completing expedited EMT training; the city is also supporting firefighter-only hires who will pursue EMT or paramedic certification while employed.

Officials did not present a funding breakdown at the meeting but described the staffing changes as operating within the city’s approved personnel budget and credited collaboration with union leadership and the city manager for allowing the program to proceed.

The presentation concluded with a group photo of the new hires and family members; city officials said a recording and photos would be posted online.