Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Workforce Training topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cumberland County outlines fire-academy rules, PST training and staffing challenges
Summary
County officials described Firefighter I course requirements and schedule, a recent graduating class of 21, PST certification steps, and ongoing staffing and turnover challenges driving local hiring and in-house training.
On Spotlight on Cumberland County, Dawn Bellin, director of the county emergency services, described who can attend the county fire academy and how the county trains and retains emergency telecommunicators.
Bellin said the Firefighter I program is open to county fire-department members aged 18 and older, runs roughly from late October to May/June and includes about 220 hours of instruction. She noted the recent graduating class of 21 students who passed the certification exam on their first try.
On 911 staffing and training, Bellin outlined a multi-step pathway: two weeks of initial certification (40 hours basic PST plus an emergency medical dispatch week), CPR certification, roughly a month of site-specific system training, three days of county driving orientation and assignment to an in-house trainer for on-the-job mentoring. She said trainees can remain in training up to a year before being released to work independently and credited training supervisor Michael Rodriguez for running the county's in-house program, which reduces external training costs.
Bellin said the center currently has 16 PSTs, with a target staffing level of five per shift (the center often runs four per shift) and active hiring to add capacity for additional sheriff dispatch responsibilities. She and Scarpa acknowledged persistent turnover, citing the mental-health toll of repeated high-stress calls and pay competitiveness as drivers; they also discussed industry interest in AI-assisted call handling and the need for careful oversight if automation is used.
The county asked residents interested in volunteering for fire departments to contact the local department or the county website for guidance on affiliation and insurance requirements.
