City of Meridian Hiring Firefighters.

Meridian, MS - The Meridian Fire Department is hiring firefighters. The department currently has ten positions open for anyone looking to apply.

“It takes a special type of person to do this job, a lot of people have different ideas of how you do it, they’ve seen Chicago Fire or whatever on TV and the come here and they’re like “We’ll this is different, it’s not what I thought it would be,” or they realize it’s not for them.” says Fire Chief Jason Collier.

According to Fire Chief Jason Collier, the job is about more than just fighting fires. “Cleaning Bathrooms, mopping floors, washing dishes, cleaning fire trucks, you know 90 percent of the job is doing everything except the one percent of the calls you’re going on.”

So, how difficult is it to find firefighters? “It’s pretty hard, it’s a national problem though, you see it at all the conferences and across the country, everybody is trying to recruit and trying to retain." says Fire Chief Jason Collier.

Chief Collier feels the pay is great for anyone looking to apply. “Starting pay is really competitive, especially for around here and not having to have any kind of college degree, a starting firefighter is right around $40,000 a year.”

Fire Chief Jason Collier says if you or anyone you know wants to be a firefighter, you can fill out an application at the civil service center, right here in City Hall.