The Windham Fire Department will have four new firefighters by early July and hopefully a new deputy chief by the end of that month, according to Fire Chief Tom McPherson.

Currently, the department has 12 firefighters, including one lieutenant for each of four shifts. The four new additional firefighters would all be entry level, bringing the department to16 firefighters and closer to state standards, with five firefighters per shift, McPherson said.

“Right now, we’ve narrowed it down to a field of nine candidates,” McPherson said. “From those nine, they’ll have a chief interview.” McPherson said the interview was scheduled for Wednesday, May 21.

“Based on those interviews, we will move forward to recommend to the Board of Selectmen four individuals for conditional employment,” McPherson said, adding the employment would not be made permanent until background checks had been performed.

At the same time, McPherson said, the department is seeking a deputy chief of fire prevention after the department went before the Board of Selectmen to proposed changes to their administrative structure.

Robert Leuci, formerly the deputy fire chief, was promoted in title only to the position of assistant fire chief, a new addition to the department’s structure, giving him more authority in the chief’s absence, McPherson said.

“Overall, the scope of my job hasn’t changed. Operations and training are still my main responsibilities,” said Leuci.

There are nine candidates for the new deputy chief position, which would cover the responsibilities formerly held by the fire inspector, Ken Whicker.

Whicker stepped down when a firefighter retired. He applied for a lateral move in the department and got it, McPherson said. There are no in-house candidates for the deputy position, McPherson added.

“His main focus will be fire prevention, inspection, education and investigation,” said McPherson of the new deputy chief position. “If we have a fire, the deputy will assume those roles in the command structure, then go into the investigative process.”

Windham was one of only three fire departments in the state to receive the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant this year.

The other two towns were Salem and Dover, McPherson said. The SAFER grant is offered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is designed to help towns boost their fire department staffing levels by paying a portion of the salaries for new hires for the first four years. The amount of the grant diminishes yearly, and in the fifth year the town assumes the entire cost of the employees.

Voters approved the spending of $182,230 to hire four firefighters for the 2008-09 year, a part of which will be offset by the SAFER funds.

Once they’re hired, McPherson said, the new firefighters will spend a week getting familiar with the department rules and regulations, the building and the staff.

After that, they will each be assigned to a shift for three months, and will rotate through the remaining three shifts for a one-year period before they get a set shift, McPherson said.

The new firefighters will be nonunion for the first year, and will be paid between $37,000 and $45,000 depending on their experience level, and the deputy chief will make between $58,568 and $71,188, based on qualifications and experience, McPherson said.

“Even putting these four firefighters on, which will give us a daily manpower of five firefighters per shift, we’re still under the manpower,” McPherson said. “It’s going to take us some time, and we need to ramp up.”