They'll work one additional 15-hour tour a year and lose a day of personal leave; new firefighters will get less vacation time.

Two more classes of 300 each will also be trained because the department hopes to have 900 new firefighters within a year.

In fact, three new firefighters have been hired since January.

Atlantic City has also established a mandatory training program for new firefighters.

From 1991 to 2001, 6.6 percent of new firefighters were minorities.

The final scores are used to create a list from which new firefighters are chosen, in order, over the next few years.

And then there were all the new firefighters at 53-43 who only knew the Cronies as middle guys.

The new firefighters will begin work after about six weeks of training.

In the most recent graduating class, he said, 12 of 241 new firefighters signed the agreements.

Last fall, the Fire Department began training its members and all new firefighters in advanced life support.