New Firefighters join Pasadena’s World-Class Department

By Shel Segal

And then there were 10.
The Pasadena Fire Department graduated and pinned 10 new firefighters in a ceremony on May 15 at Ambassador Auditorium.
The 10 graduates – nine men and one woman – started out from a group of more than 4,000 applicants who applied for the job last summer and initially started taking written tests.
Mike Maas, battalion chief, training division for the department, said while it has been difficult for the recruits up until this point it still gets harder from here.
“For them it’s a life-changing event,” Maas said of graduating the fire academy. “It’s the end of their (training), but they start a probationary period at which time they serve in a probationary capacity. They ultimately could be terminated if they do not meet the minimum standards. It’s very stressful for them. Even though they graduated the recruit academy they still have a tough road ahead of them.”
Thirty-year-old Shana Welch was the lone female to graduate. Her father Corey Welch came all the way from Pennsylvania for the graduation and said becoming a firefighter is a “dream of hers.”
“We’re very proud, extremely,” Corey Welch said. “She worked very hard, probably harder than she’s worked at anything else. I think she finally found her niche.”
Lisa Derderian, public information officer for the department, said getting from 4,000 applicants to 10 graduates takes time and is very exhausting.
“It’s a very extensive process and this is probably one of the most sought-after jobs in the world,” Derderian said. “Everybody wants to be a firefighter. It’s very stressful, but there’s a whole written process, testing, orals, several panels interview you, there’s psychological, medical. There’s a huge process and we pride ourselves on being a world-class city. We really want to pick the best of the best.”
Derderian said the department is starting once again to be “very young” after graying for some time.
“A great percentage of our department has been hired within the last 10 years,” she said. “There have been a lot of retirements, so we need to plan for new firefighters coming in.”
She added Pasadena will be a good place for these recruits to put down their roots.
“There are some who apply for every department imaginable just to get their foot in the door and that’s understandable,” she said. “Then there’s those who just apply to Pasadena. We have the Rose Bowl. We have great venues in town. There’s always something happening in Pasadena. The parade. They know if they sign up to work here they will never get a New Year’s off as long as their career exists here.”
(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com. He can be followed via Twitter @segallanded.)

More from News