Firefighters' children often want to follow in their parents' footsteps -- even if their mother or father was killed while on duty. Now, a bill being considered by state lawmakers would make it easier for those children to become firefighters.
The bill sponsored by Rep. DebraLee Hovey would move the child of a firefighter killed while on the job to the top of a fire department's hiring list, as long as the candidate passes the necessary examinations.
The Republican from Monroe said she was asked by firefighters from the Bridgeport department, which lost two firefighters during a house fire in July, to draft the bill. In addition to Lt. Steven Velasquez and firefighter Michael Baik, who both died July 24, the department lost firefighter Walter Flyntz while on duty in 1999.
Bridgeport fire Capt. Michael Caldaroni Sr. said he researched the idea of giving hiring preference to children of fallen firefighters for several years. It was Flyntz's son, who tried to get a job with the Bridgeport department after his father's death, who triggered the idea, Caldaroni said. The younger Flyntz passed his exams, but was not high enough on the hiring list to get a job, Caldaroni said. Fire departments want to hire people who love the job, and it takes a special person to want to be a firefighter after losing a parent to the job, Caldaroni said.