Newark’s Newest Firefighters Almost All Veterans

Almost all of Newark, N.J.'s newest firefighters are military veterans.

A class of 31 recruits was sworn in Tuesday afternoon -- 28 of them veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last year the city won a $7.1 million federal grant to make hiring veterans as firefighters a priority.

The city veterans program is run in partnership with the GI Go Fund, a nonprofit that helps veterans transition to civilian life. The organization helped veterans who came into its office and reached out to veterans through job fairs.

Newark officials say it is the first class of veterans to be recruited for the fire department since World War II.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)