Firefighter Deficit

Currently the public service sector is experiencing a 25 to 30 year retirement cycle that is depleting its work force. Fire Departments are losing personnel at an ever increasing rate compared to other public sector institutions because of changes in the public employees retirement system  (PERS) that affects safety personnel. Firefighters can now retire at 50 years of age with up to and over 90 percent of their salaries. Chiefs, Training Officers, Union representatives and  PERS research is indicating 20 to 50 percent turn over rates in most departments due to these retirements.Recent federally mandated increases of  Engine staffing requirements by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) further exasperates depleted departmental workforce levels.  The current and projected workforce deficits for skilled recruits in the fire service place Graduates from the Oxnard College Regional Fire Academy in a positive employment position.  The Fire Service recognizes the need for a more prepared and educated recruit than they've needed in the past. Oxnard College Regional Fire Academy provides this type of recruit to the profession.  Fire Departments in this country have evolved during the course of the 20th century from a traditional firefighting organization into what is termed "All Risk, Full Service" Departments.

Today's profession requires basic entry level skills in emergency medicine, Hazardous Materials mitigation, Swift water Rescue, Low/High angle Rescue, Weapons of mass destruction (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) mitigation, Emergency shoring, Firefighter Survival (Structural and Wildland/Forest), Incident Management, Construction, Elevators/Escalators, Prevention, Inspection, Fire Behavior  and Combustion, Fire Chemistry and Physics, Basic Hydraulics, Investigation and Fire Laws, Diversity/EEO, Report Writing as well as Suppression skills for all types and descriptions of fires.   The Firefighting culture, its characteristics, its hiring procedures are very involved, sometimes confusing and very intimidating to the unprepared. The required prerequisites and 64 to 68 days spent in the Oxnard College Regional Fire Academy prepares an individual to become a Firefighter. The Oxnard Academy is unique due to its shared facility with the Ventura County Fire Department, its location on the grounds of a Regional Training Center and its wide use of Professional Experts representing departments throughout the state.