Portales Fire Department short on personnel

Since 2020, the Portales Fire Department has lost 34 personnel to turnover, according to Fire and EMS Chief T.J. Cathey. He said he believes employees leave because of pay and burnout.

“We’ve had a hard time getting applicants for a long time now,” Cathey said. But, he said, it isn’t just their department. The entire city is having a hard time getting applicants to fill positions.

“I think it also had something to do with the pandemic,” he said. Of course, during the pandemic when everyone was encouraged to stay home, Cathey said, being first responders, his staff were exposed to a variety of illnesses because they had to keep responding.

According to Cathey, in 2020, his department was short eight people, which is equivalent to an entire shift. Since January of 2022, the department has filled 19 positions and has two open currently. However, Cathey said, those positions have remained open for a while, and they will stay opened until filled.

At the Clovis Fire Department (CFD), Chief Mike Nolen said they were in the same boat as PFD, but had a “stroke of luck.”

“Hiring has been very difficult over the last six months,” he said. But CFD had contact with the Wolfforth Fire Academy near Lubbock, where they were about to graduate their class of 23 students, and they were looking for work at just the right time for Nolen.

“We have 12 positions open currently, but 12 background checks are now being conducted to fill those positions,” he said.

Nolen said it’s common for people to start their careers in Clovis and get all of their training, but after some time, they typically will go on to bigger cities. “That really goes for any smaller city,” he said.

Both Chief Cathey and Nolen said they wanted to encourage anyone interested in applying to look at this career field seriously. According to Nolen, the certifications are nationwide and one will always have that training to fall back on. Not to mention, “we’ll pay for the training,” he said.

Cathey said applicants “need to have a desire to help people, and they should want a job where they can accomplish something.” He said that for anyone interested, it’s more of a calling than it is a job.

Both departments plan to conduct their new hire test later in the month of February. For more information, call or visit online:

Portales Fire Department

• 575-356-4406

• The city of Portales: portalesnm.gov/

Clovis Fire Department

• 575-769-7814

• The city of Clovis: cityofclovis.org/