Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. members of the South Zanesville Fire Department began their first paid shift in the department’s history.

Recently, the Village of South Zanesville approved allocations for the SZFD to begin a part-time paid staff for 10 hours per day. The paid hours of operation run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Chief Russ Taylor said it has been one of his two main goals since taking the position as chief to move his staff from volunteer to paid. The second of those two goals was acquiring the department’s own ambulance, which Taylor achieved with the help of the village in 2018.

“It means a quicker response to our tax payers and citizens of South Zanesville, the Village of South Zanesville and to Springfield Township,” Taylor said of the paid staff. “And it gives us a sense of pride to be able to serve our community to the best of our ability.”

After 6 p.m., the department reverts back to its typical volunteer-based system, but the salaries have brought change to even the volunteers. Now, any volunteer staff member will be monetarily compensated for the time they spend out on a run.

Prior to the recent changes within the department, all volunteers would receive a check totaling $50 to $100 around Christmas-time to thank them for their hard work and dedication to the community.

“It keeps my morale up. Today’s times, people are so busy. Volunteers are almost a thing of the past,” Taylor said. “People are so busy having to work multiple jobs in order to survive with family and the cost of living.”

While part-time employees are not paid as much as some surrounding departments and are limited to working 52 hours every two weeks, firefighters and EMS personnel don’t stay in their field for the payday.

“The EMS world and the fire world salaries, for what training and what we have to go through year after year to keep our certification, the money is not worth what we have to do,” Taylor said. “It’s more of a love and a passion to do our job and help the public is why 100 percent of our people do what they do.”

As of Tuesday, the SZFD had 17 part-time paid staff members and 29 volunteers. Taylor said he is still accepting applications for the part-time positions with hopes to bring his staffing numbers up to between 20 and 25 employees.

Already in 2019, Taylor said the department has responded to 198 calls. In 2018, the department responded to over 800 calls in the area, not including mutual aid calls.

While Taylor is satisfied with accomplishing his two main goals since assuming the position of chief four years ago, he said the part-time paid staff is a stepping stone.

“My ultimate thing is 24-hour per day coverage and full-time paid people, it’s what I’d like to see,” Taylor said. “It’s going to take a lot more, you know, you’ve got to start somewhere and work your way up.”

Taylor extended many thanks to the community for their generosity in funding the department through their tax dollars and being support of the SZFD staff.