Bakersfield Fire Department Chief Doug Greener is looking for some outstanding individuals to join the fire department, but they better be prepared for a rigorous assessment process.

Greener appeared on the March 6 episode of “First Look with Scott Cox” to talk about the department’s effort to recruit new firefighters.

“The Bakersfield Fire Department  has fairly stringent requirements compared to a lot of fire departments in California,” Greener told Scott Cox during the 10-minute interview. “We limit our pool of folks who we will test.”

The department’s recruitment process closes on March 13 and after that they hope to have a large pool of qualified candidates, Greener said.

“We require that they have actually been to a Firefighter 1 academy on their own prior to their application and having been certified as an EMT,” Greener said.

During the interview, Greener also discussed the department’s efforts to combat illegal Fourth of July fireworks through the use of drones — LOIS and LOIS 2. The fire department used a single drone last year to track places where illegal fireworks were shot from, and to respond to those areas.

“This is situational awareness,” said Greener, who added that he also wants to use drones to help firefighters on larger incidents in the city.

For more on the recruitment visit this site: http://www.bakersfieldcity.us/gov/depts/fire/fire_careers.htm