Fire Department Employment

NOW HIRING: Multiple Lateral Full-time Firefighter Paramedics

The Plain Township Fire Department is now accepting applications for multiple Lateral Full-time Firefighter Paramedic positions.

The application period will close on December 29, 2025, at 1600.

Please review the criteria listed below for a lateral transfer.

PLAIN TOWNSHIP FIRE DEPARTMENT

LATERAL TRANSFER FIREFIGHTER POLICY

In the event of a vacancy in the position of firefighter/paramedic at the Plain Township Fire Department, the following guidelines may be used to appoint a full-time firefighter, who is currently employed as a full-time firefighter at another department within the State of Ohio, in lieu of the normal testing process for hiring new employees.

To be considered for a lateral transfer, an applicant must meet the following employment and education criteria at the time of application:

Must have at least three (3) years of experience as a full-time paid professional firefighter
Must be a certified Paramedic for at least one (1) year immediately prior to application

Must possess the following licenses and/or certifications, which must be valid and current at the time of application:

o Ohio Class-D driver license

o Ohio Firefighter II certification

o Ohio EMT-Paramedic (EMT-P) OR National Registry certification

o Ohio Haz-Mat Operations certification

o American Safety & Health Institute (ASHI) or equivalent CPR certification

o American Heart Association (AHA) Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification

Copies must be uploaded with the employment application online or delivered in person to 9500 Johnstown Road, Monday through Friday, between 08:00 and 15:00, no later than December 29, 2025, at 1600—except for the driver’s license.

The driver’s license does not need to be submitted with the application.

Instead, it will be required at the time of registration for candidates who are selected for an interview.

Upon verification of meeting the above employment and education criteria, lateral transfer applicants will sit before two (2) structured interview panels.

Each interview panel will collectively score each applicant on a 100-point grading scale, and the two (2) panel scores will be averaged together to derive a single interview score for each applicant.

Multiple lateral transfer applicants will be ranked based on this final averaged interview score. The two (2) interview panels will consist of the following Township personnel:

Panel 1: three (3) to five (5) current Plain Township employees of various ranks selected by the Fire Chief
Panel 2: the Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief, and Township Administrator

The Fire Chief and Township Administrator will recommend the top qualified candidates as ranked by the interview panels to the Board of Trustees for consideration based on the interview process.

Final selection will be made by the Board of Trustees. Prior to permanent appointment as a full-time firefighter, the candidate must successfully complete and/or pass the following pre-employment screenings:

Background check
Plain Township Fire Department Agility Test
Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund (OP&F) physical – if required by OP&F
Non-DOT drug screening

Upon successful completion of the pre-employment screenings, the candidate will be appointed to the position of full-time firefighter by the Board of Trustees. Except as outlined in this section, lateral transfer firefighters will be considered a new hire employee of the Township, and as such shall adhere to all other applicable sections of the Employee Manual that reference new hire employees or appointees.

Per Section 1.11 a lateral transfer employee may not carry over seniority from their previous employer, and will therefore be placed at the bottom of the current PTFD fulltime seniority list.

Lateral transfer employees are eligible for the following benefits carryover from their previous employer(s), regardless of political subdivision (city, township, fire district):

Up to 156 hours of Sick Leave may be imported that will not be considered for annual sick leave payout until at least an additional 500 hours of sick leave has been accrued with Plain Township and sick leave imported will not be considered for separation payment outlined in Section 7.9
Up to 96 hours of Vacation Leave may be imported and imported vacation leave will be treated the same as vacation leave earned at Plain Township
No compensatory time may be imported
Vacation accrual rate commensurate with the years of full-time service with their previous employer(s)
Enhanced starting pay rate, at step 2 with at least 3 years of full-time paid professional firefighting experience, to be approved by the board of trustees
Longevity Pay available after 5 years of full-time service with Plain Township

All public service experience with the State of Ohio or a political Subdivision of the State of Ohio will be considered for vacation accrual at the end of the first year of service with Plain Township.

If you meet all of the above requirements click on the link to fill out the online application.

If you have difficulty with the application close out your browser completely and reload the website: Lateral Full-time Firefighter Paramedic Application.