Wednesday, April 12, 2006
By Jennifer Connic Promotions Mean New FirefightersA combination of retirements and promotions means there will be new firefighters and a new fire marshal at the Westport Fire Department later this year. Fire Chief Chris Ackley said right now the department is currently testing four, in-house candidates for the training officer position. The position has been left vacant since it was added to the budget nearly a year ago, and Ackley said leaving it vacant has saved the department some money. He said he cannot say how much has been saved until the end of the fiscal year.
The four candidates have already taken a written test and they will take a skills-based test and go before an oral board, he said. Ackley said he plans to also run a test for a fire inspector because he plans to promote someone from within as fire marshal. He would not say who, but Ed Zygmant currently serves as the acting fire marshal. Fred Baker recently retired from the position to take on the fire marshal job in New Canaan in March. “I plan to promote someone, but we have not concluded anything yet,” Ackley said. He said he also needs to consider what to do when Mark Amatrudo leaves his post as interim deputy chief this summer. He will need to hire five new fire fighters, he said, but no test has been scheduled yet. Ackley said he hopes, however, to have people in place in the summer. Posted 04/12 at 11:28 AM The trackback URL for this entry is: http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/trackback/13181/PDzG27jJ/ |