Paid responders

CHENEY - The city has hired four new paid, non-volunteer firefighters who joined the team after an induction ceremony on April 3.

Jon McCormick, Jakob Chamberlain, Zach Newcomb and Ethan LaBell are the first paid firefighters in the department's history, according to Chief Mitch Metzger.

Metzger said that the volume of calls for fire service have gone up and volunteerism has not kept up with the demand.

"So we had to make some changes to facilitate the needs of the community." Metzger said.

The city council approved the fire department's request to fund these positions in March of 2023.

Two of the four new employees are currently volunteers with the Airway Heights fire department, while other two are career firefighters, one of whom was a previous volunteer with Airway dept.

"It's going to give the community the opportunity to most affordable maintain the level of service they have come to expect. It is a historic day for the city and for our department." Chief Metzger said.

Author Bio

Lucas Walsh, Former managing editor

Lucas is a former Cheney Free Press managing editor. He is a nationally published author who contributes regularly to several publications across the country.