Oklahoma City Fire Dept. looking to hire paramedics

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - The Oklahoma City Fire Department said it needs to hire more paramedics to tackle the growing number of emergency calls. In order to meet the numbers needed, the OKCFD is hosting several one-stop-shop hiring events.

"I my mom saw the news article about today and how they were trying the applicants and stuff today," said McKenzie Fennel, after walking into the OKCFD's hiring event Monday morning.

The Oklahoma City Fire Department said they're looking to hire eight more paramedics, that's half of their projected staff.

Lieutenant Tommy Brown said the city's population has gone up impacting the amount of emergency calls. Just last year, the OKCFD said it received 95,000 first responder calls.

"We bought four new ambulances to go out and actually help supplement some of the call volume for EMSA," said Lt. Tommy Brown, with OKCFD.

That's why Fennel was there. After an interview and an HR Training test, it was time to show the department her skills.

"Each of the individual processes and stuff are pretty typical for what we do," said Fennel.

Those processes included how to maneuver the stretcher over obstacles, around tight corners and tight spaces.

Fennel also had to show staff she knew how to perform chest compressions.

"At the right depth, the right rate, and then you get a two minute break, and then you do it a second time," the trainer said to Fennel.

Fennel had to show her strength by carrying training dummies and lifting weights.

"It wasn't too bad. It was a smooth process for sure," said Fennel.

"They can come in. They can do all of the steps in the hiring process and we can try to get them a conditional job offer by the end of the week," said Lt. Tommy Brown.

If you missed Monday's event, OKCFD will also host events on Thursday and Saturday.