by Mindy Aguon

Guam - 15 new recruits joined the Guam Fire Department. The recruits began on Monday and are part of the 20th Fire Cycle. Spokesperson Lieutenant Ed Artero says some changes are being made to the curriculum at the Guam Community College and another 15 fire recruits are being processed to join the cycle. The new hires will undergo six months of classroom and on the job training before they can be promoted to firefighter one's and assigned to the various fire stations.

Artero told KUAM News, "These 30 recruits will definitely help. we're actually just playing a lot of catch up. we've had a lot of employees retire in the last two fiscal years, approximately nine total and we also have military deployments, so that affects us from time to time so those 30 will definitely help us."

Lieutenant Artero adds that the current fiscal year budget provides the funding for the additional hires.