Chief fire officer Vincent Hollinsid yesterday said that the Fire Service is still committed to hiring Bermudian.However, like many other local services and businesses, the he said they have been having continued difficulty finding qualified Bermudians to fill various positions, with only 13 out of 250 applicants passing entrance tests.“The service has worked for three consecutive years under strength because we are trying to hire only Bermudians,” Mr Hollinsid said.“We are 100 percent Bermudian. Our entire operation is Bermudian. I’m only trying to help Bermudians.”Last April a drive to fill 28 positions in the Fire Service garnered 83 applications, but only three applicants passed the required academic, psychological, drugs and fitness tests.Of those three, only two applicants accepted positions.At that time, Mr Hollinsid said that the service might, for the first time in its history recruit from overseas, causing an uproar and more than 250 more applications from locals.But of those applicants, Mr Hollinsid said only 13 passed.“When we had all those applicants, I thought it had worked out,” Mr Hollinsid said. “It’s not my fault that out of 276 people that I could only get 13. I would have hired 26 Bermudians if 26 Bermudians had passed.“We are one of the only places that hires only Bermudians and gives them the skills they need through on the Island training by Bermudians.“To say we’re looking to hire from overseas, or that we want to look overseas is inaccurate and wrong.”Last year, Collector of Customs Winifred Fostine DeSilva revealed that Bermuda Customs had run into similar issues. After receiving 236 applications for 12 positions, only eight applicants passed the entrance exams and accepted a position.“All the uniformed services are having a problem finding qualified Bermudians,”“Many businesses are also having the same problem,” Mr Hollinsid said. “Hopefully, people will turn around, get fit, kick the drugs and work on improving their education,”Mr Hollinsid acknowledged the Fire Service had suffered financial cuts late last year, but said: “I would have thought that if we had found the 26 people to fill the positions, we would have been able to hire them.”However, he said he could not discuss future plans until he knows more about the service’s budget going forward.In response to yesterday’s story in The Royal Gazette, two people claiming to be former applicants said that months after taking the tests, they had not been told the results.One poster on www.royalgazette.com, calling himself ‘Onion Patch,’ wrote that he was told he passed the “physical, reading and writing, psychological and medical” tests, but received no response from the service.After six weeks, he said he called the service’s HR manager, who told him his application was rejected and that he would receive a letter explaining the reason, but he said the letter never came.“Why do they not even give a reason why they deny most of the recruits?” he wrote. “I’m not saying to hire those with drugs in their urine, or who can’t even compose a sentence, but for the ones with the ability and the desire to serve and help this Island, why do we not even get a passing glance?”