2023 ANNUAL REPORT-FINAL

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OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR

Personnel Services

Uniformed New Hire Recruitment

The Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services (DFRS) began 2023 with the hiring of Recruit Class 33 and Recruit Class 34 on January 30, 2023. Those two recruit classes graduated 47 Firefighter/EMT’s on August 11, 2023. During that timeframe DFRS began Recruit Class 35 on April 24, 2023. That recruit class graduated 28 Firefighter/EMT’s on November 3, 2023. Overall, 2023 consisted of graduating three recruit classes, yielding 75 new Firefighter/EMT’s for Frederick County. In the spring of 2023, we began our next recruitment campaign for our future recruit classes. The recruitment team traveled to over 35 recruitment events including every high school in Frederick County. The application process began on May 1, 2023, and concluded on June 30, 2023, with 542 applications. The written test was administered in July with 229 candidates moving forward to the Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT) in August and September of 2023. Interviews were conducted on 120 candidates and conditional offers were extended to 103 of those candidates in September 2023. As the year wrapped up those 103 candidates were completing various sections of their background process: physical evaluation, psychological evaluation, background check, and fingerprinting so that final selections could be made for Recruit Class 36 and Recruit Class 37 in the beginning of 2024. Throughout 2023, the division encountered 36 separations from employment of its current personnel. Thirteen were from recruit resignations, medical separations, and terminations related to academics. 17 were resignations, and 6 were eligible retirements. During 2023, the Technician and Lieutenant eligibility lists were exhausted prior to their expiration date. A promotional process was conducted for both ranks and produced 18 Lieutenants effective September 1, 2023, and 19 Technicians effective August 2023. Of those newly established lists, 4 Technicians and 7 Lieutenants were promoted in 2023. The Captain eligibility list, established in 2022, yielded 2 promotions in 2023 and has 3 candidates remaining. The Battalion Chief eligibility list, established in December of 2021, is currently expired and a new process is in development for February 2024. In 2023 Frederick County was awarded a $9.7 million the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant which funded the hiring of 32 additional Firefighter/EMT’s in Frederick County. The County Executive and County Council approved the hire of 5 new Paramedic positions and 1 Lieutenant of EMS Training. Uniformed Promotions (Competitive and Non-Competitive)