8 firefighters join Lynn dept.

LYNN – Eight new firefighters were sworn in Tuesday bringing the department numbers up to levels Chief Dennis Carmody said he hasn’t seen since the early part of 2003.”We’re up to 187,” he said. “This is great.”Leon Campbell, Abel Cuevas, Thomas Hogan, Brett Johnson, Robert Kimber Jr., Christopher McGinn, Timothy Magner and Christopher Oram were sworn in before a standing room only crowd in Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy’s office. The group started in-house training Wednesday, which runs four to five weeks and will eventually head to the Firefighter Academy in Stowe, Carmody said.As part of their in-house training a total of 19 recruits, hired since September, will climb behind the wheel of an emergency vehicle Friday and run it through an obstacle course laid out behind Fire Headquarters.”Everyone has to learn emergency vehicle operation,” he said.Despite the influx of new firefighters Carmody said he still has three slots to backfill due to retirements and he is three firefighters shy of his goal, which is to get the staffing level to 190 firefighters.His largest obstacle in staffing hasn’t been budgetary, it’s been retirements.”Before we would hire six but then we’d go four years and not be able to hire anyone,” he said. “It makes it hard to catch up.”Carmody said he expects another seven firefighters to retire in the early part of 2013 and he hopes things will slow down after that. Two retirements include what he calls the last of the Vietnam Era veterans.”That will be the end of the that whole generation on the job,” he said. “It’s good and it’s bad.”Those that were hired just after 1983, the first that came on post Proposition 2? won’t hit the retirement mark for a few more years, Carmody added.In the meantime he said he is looking to add another eight or 10 recruits in early 2013 to hit the 190 staffing level and he hopes things will balance there for a while.”It gives us the ability to run the amount of equipment we have, six engines, three ladders and a medic,” he said. “It’s a good position to be in. You play Russian roulette when you don’t have the men.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].