BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
There are about 20 firefighters in the Bellevue Fire Department who are also paramedics, and the latter part is about 85% of the job.
Troy Nawrocki is a Bellevue firefighter, and since 2019 he’s also a paramedic for the city.
Nawrocki loves serving the community, but is worried about coworkers leaving town for other jobs with better pay.
At their last city council meeting, a $4 an hour raise for firefighter paramedics on the medic unit was approved.
"We’ve lost a couple of paramedics in the past to other departments and promotions," Nawrocki said. "That will give us the numbers and hopefully keep people here."
The hope is that a more competitive wage will not only help keep the number of firefighter paramedics that they have, they’ll also be able to attract more. They hope to recruit another 6 to 10 in the department.
