The Youngstown City Fire Department swore in six new recruits Monday. Some of the new hires were legacies, excited to follow in their parent's footsteps.

"I got sworn on April 24th, 1999, he was 6 weeks old to the day," said Fire Captain Leslie Murphy, referring to her son Ian Murphy after his swering in. "He was in this spot almost 24 years ago, being held while I got swore in," she said.

"I've grown up around the deparment and i'm excited to start my career here," Ian Murphy said.

"One word, proud. I'm very proud, it's very heartfelt," said Fire Captain Courtney Kelly about her daughter Madison Kelly, one of the fire department's newest recruits.

"It's kind of unbelievable. It still feels like a dream to me," said Madison Kelly. "I'm just, super happy to be here and my mom is pretty awesome, I've got big shoes to fill," she said.

The fire department also has big shoes to fill when it comes to continuing to increase staffing levels. The fire chief tells 21 News these new additions to the team will be a tremendous help.

"With these six and then the four more i'm going to hire, it will definitely, definitely help shorten or decrease the number of times we have to close fire stations," Chief Barry Finley said.

There's room in the city's budget for 10 new firefighters.

The fire union tells 21 News these six recruits will absolutely help, but even if the department had the full 10 today, they'd still need more help.

"It is frustrating to us that on a daily basis we don't know if we're gonna have that level of staffing," said Fire Union Local 312 President, Jon Racco. "We don't know if these stations are going to be open every single day and we're playing roulette with safety for the citizens," he said.

Currently, staffing levels are at 114 people. Jon Racco says they need at least 127 people, to operate efficiently.