Sacramento Fire Department embraces TikTok hoping to recruit more staff
SACRAMENTO — The Sacramento City Fire Department is social media famous on TikTok with more than 117,000 followers.
"We knew there was a lot of younger generation on there, so the idea was lets just throw some videos on there and see what happens," said Sacramento fire spokesperson Wendy Aguilar, who started the account in April 2021 to recruit young people.
"For the last two years, we have challenges of we couldn't go to schools they were shut down. With our TikTok account, even though the kids were not in school, they still had their phones," she continued.
But with TikTok dance challenges off the table for busy fire crews, Wendy got creative — posting their viral rescue puppy, cooking videos, and safety tips.
"It's more than incidents or running out to calls it's also what's happening behind the scene. Last year when we posted a recruitment video, we got a lot of applicants coming in, and the only thing that changed was that TikTok account."
In their most well-known videos — the "What's for Lunch" series — we get a behind-the-scenes look for ourselves.
"I know next to nothing about TikTok," said Fire Captain Rob Walters, who's on board with the cooking videos if t it means more staff.