Looking for a way to serve your community? Consider joining the Webster City Fire Department. The department is looking for new volunteers to join the force and will be holding tryouts on Saturday, July 8 at 9 a.m. at the Webster City Fire Department. Applications can be obtained at the fire station at 919 Superior St. Individuals who wish to apply can also go online to webstercity.com.

“We have some members that have recently retired out and in the process of them retiring out, we want to fill their positions,” said Webster City Fire Chief Charles Stansfield. “We need people that want to help and serve their community.”

The department hopes to gain four to six volunteers through Saturday’s tryouts. Tryouts are open to men and women ages 18 and older. Backgrounds checks will be done on all applicants.

“Currently our department does not have any female fire fighters and I would love to have some female fire fighters to come out and test with us and try to get on,” said Stansfield.

A challenge for the department currently is the majority of people on the force work during the day. Some members that their work does let them come off, other members that their work does not. It is dependent on where they work and what they’re doing. Some are able to come and respond while working and others aren’t, so that also creates challenges.

“We may have 30 personnel on our roster, but maybe ten might be able to actually respond during the day. Having a full roster gives us more opportunity to be able to get people to respond,” Stansfield said.

“With everybody working more, it’s becoming more challenging for us to fill our spots with volunteers. We’re wanting to make sure we get a full roster so that we can get the most amount of people there on an emergency incident,” Stansfield said.

“We’re a combination department. We’re full time and volunteer.We have three full time guys and a full time chief, so we rely on our volunteers pretty heavily when we go to fires,” said fire fighter Jeromy Estlund.“The volunteers are kind of like the back bone of the department.”

The testing process includes a physical agility test where the applicant will climb stairs, drag a hose, open and close a hydrant, hoist a sandbag, drag a mannequin and climb the aerial ladder. After the physical agility portion, applicants will have to crawl around in a darkened mass to simulate their reactions to being in smoke and little to no visibility.

The final step in the application process is an oral interview. Estlund recommends wearing workout clothes for the agility portion of testing. The interview will be casual. No suit or tie is required.

Testing and interviews should be completed in three to four hours, according to Estlund.

Individuals who make the cut will be required to earn their Fire Fighter One certification within their first year on the department. The department will put individuals through that training.

Members of the fire department also train the second and fourth Monday of every month at the fire station.

“The fire department is a great place to learn new skills, meet new people and help your community,” said Estlund. “We welcome any and all applicants and we look forward to working together to serve our community.”

“If anybody has any questions or wants to talk about what the requirements are, they can call us here at the fire house. We’d be more than happy to talk with them about it,” Stansfield said.

Stansfield encourages residents to come out and tryout for a spot on the department.

“Being a fire fighter for as many years as I have been, it’s very rewarding,” Stansfield said. It’s fun. It’s rewarding. It’s fulfilling.”