The city is now advertising for three new firefighters as the Statesboro Fire Department expands its force to 48 paid, certified firefighters. Counting the two administrative assistants, it will be a 50-employee department.City Council unanimously approved the addition of the three firefighting positions to the payroll Feb. 18 after hearing from Fire Chief Tim Grams and Public Safety Director Wendell Turner. Their presentation led to a discussion about reducing overtime, but they said the hiring will also serve other purposes as the department prepares to add one or more stations.“This will allow us to alleviate a lot of the issues that we’re having right now with overtime and give us more leeway as far as having some floaters in between the shifts and raise our minimum staffing,” Turner told the mayor and council.