WESTFIELD- The Fire Commission will convene on Wednesday at 4 p.m. for a special meeting for the purpose of hiring two new full-time firefighters.
Timothy Rowan and Gina Favata will be considered for appointment Wednesday. Rowan and Favata are both paramedics, a new requirement of Fire Chief Patrick Egloff.
Rowan and Favata both received conditional offers of employment from the Fire Commission July 1. Another prospective firefighter and paramedic, Bethany Thomas, also received an employment offer, but Egloff said she still needs to complete some requirements before she can be appointed. He added that they did not want to hold up Favata and Rowan from beginning their employment, so Thomas will likely be appointed at a later date, pending requirement completion.
The hiring of Favata and Rowan marks the beginning of a new policy promoted by Egloff who wants all firefighters in the Westfield Fire Department to also be certified paramedics. Egloff said that he wants city firefighters to have more medical training. Those who have been hired as firefighters but have not yet completed paramedic training will have to finish the training within a certain period after their date of hire.
The new appointments come after two firefighters, Joseph Szenda and Michael Hawthorne, were promoted to captain in June, creating vacancies within the firefighter ranks.
