Huntersville Fire Dept. recruits needed to meet demand of fast-growing town

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The Huntersville Fire Department is hiring, and it’s putting applicants to the test Monday and Tuesday.

There are 20 to 25 firefighters trying to land one of the four open jobs.

Ryan McCarter is vying for a part-time role and is among those who must go through physical testing that includes running up and down flights of stairs while weighted down, dragging a fire hose across a parking lot, dragging a weighted dummy and hammering the Keiser machine — which is a simulation of a forcible entry.

They also have to simulate putting a ladder up against a house.

“I try to work out once a week, so I guess I’ll count this as my once a week,” said McCarter, whose full-time position is with the East Lincoln Fire Department.

The physical testing is on a pass/fail basis, and the department also puts applicants through technical firefighting and EMS scenarios.

“We’re looking for somebody that’s aggressive about their job,” said Huntersville Assistant Fire Chief Shane Nantz. “We want them to have the ability to learn. We feel like we can take someone with an average or above-average intelligence and train them to be a competent, good firefighter.”

State data shows Huntersville’s population grew by more than 5,600 people from 2020 to 2024, a jump of more than 9 percent.

Nantz says HFD needs these new firefighters if it’s going to keep up.

“Staying fully staffed is imperative when it’s 95 or 100 degree heat, when you’re running 3,000 calls out of one station here in Huntersville and the other three [stations] are running 3,000 amongst them.”

McCarter says he liked the testing Monday. He knows the competition for the job will be tough.

“You don’t know what the next guy’s got in store for you,” McCarter said. “He could beat my butt, or I could beat his butt. At the end of the day, we’re all here as a brotherhood just trying to help out the community.”

Huntersville is in the planning stages of building a fifth fire station in town.

Deputy Town Manager Jackie Huffman said in a statement, “Our Town Board has committed in 2024 to providing exemplary fire services by investing in a municipal fire department (as opposed to the previous nonprofit fire department) made up of some full-time firefighters, but the majority of our fire staff (approx. 80 positions) are actually part-time staff.  Additional part-time staffing will allow us adequate staff coverage on shifts as required by the call volume we are experiencing as a result of our growing population and tax base.”