By Amy Rolph
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Copyright 2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
SEATTLE — Getting into Harvard is easier than getting on with the Seattle Fire Department.
So is getting into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the Juilliard School in New York - and virtually any other university in the country.
“It’s kind of like winning the lottery,” said Fire Department recruitment Capt. Doug Windle, who has watched thousands of would-be firefighters fall short over the years.
Windle was exaggerating, but not much. In December, the Seattle Fire Department had roughly 2,500 applicants for about 30 positions - numbers that don’t bode well for all those who dream of one day donning the yellow fireproof suit.
The numbers get even smaller when it comes to Seattle’s newest recruits. Five weeks into training, a class of 16 had already lost four members.
That kind of dropout rate isn’t typical, but it does occur, said recruit instructor Lt. Kyle White, a 13-year Fire Department veteran.
“They either leave on their own, or they leave because we tell them to,” White said. “Some people have physical strength issues, some people have a hard time with the mental pressure.”
One morning last week, White was supervising three of the remaining recruits as they practiced ventilating the roof of an abandoned West Seattle house.
Using chain saws, they took turns cutting three sides of a square in the roof and peeling that section back like the cover of a book.
One of the recruits was Jesse Gorham, a soft-spoken 23-year-old from Mason County who tried for four years to land a firefighting gig before getting lucky in Seattle.
“It’s definitely challenging - I would say it’s one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done,” he said after climbing down from the roof to get a drink of water.
At the fire academy, learning and retaining the information are the keys, White said. The recruits have 13 weeks to learn the basics of firefighting before they start work at stations on a probationary basis.
The academy is the last stage of a process that started with a written exam earlier in the year. Only 1,600 of the 2,500 applicants showed up to take the most recent four-hour-long test, Windle said.
Then there’s a string of oral board interviews, background checks, physical and psychological exams, and eventually more interviews.
“How many interviews did we have to go through?” Brandon Smith asked his fellow recruits while taking a break from ventilating the abandoned house last week. “Was it five or six?”
Seven is the total he finally arrived at after counting the interviews off.
The numbers are similar elsewhere in the country. According to National Bureau of Labor Statistics data, hiring for firefighting jobs is expected to remain highly competitive, though the number of positions was expected to grow from 18 percent to 26 percent between 2004 and 2014 - a faster-than-average increase.
After firefighters emerged from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as America’s favorite brand of hero, there was a surge in applications for the fire academy. Seattle received about 2,900 applications in 2002, then about 3,500 in 2004.
Those numbers were up considerably from 1999, when there were fewer than 2,000 applicants.
Often, people don’t make the cut on their first try, Windle said. The typical successful candidate is 27 to 30 years old and is changing careers.
“They’re looking at their lives and thinking, `There’s something more than this,’” he said.
About two-thirds of those who make it have some kind of college degree, though only a high school diploma or GED is required. Roughly 30 percent are veterans, and 10 percent are women.
Ben Kirk, 30, was a youth pastor in Olympia before he decided to taking saving souls in a whole new direction. His wife was supportive, so he started volunteering in Thurston County.
Eventually, he landed in the Seattle Fire Department’s newest class of recruits.
“It’s really what I was looking for in the next stage of my life,” he said.
P-I reporter Amy Rolph can be reached at 206-448-8223 or amyrolph@seattlepi.com
JUST HOW TOUGH IS IT TO GET IN?
The Seattle Fire Department accepted about 1 percent of applicants this year.
Harvard University accepted 9 percent of its applicants last year.
The Juilliard School admits around 5 percent of those who apply, which U.S. News & World Report ranks as the lowest acceptance rate of any college in the country.
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point accepted about 12 percent who applied.