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Charleston County recruits future mechanics from local classrooms CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) — Charleston County is looking to local high school classrooms for help filling a growing need for mechanics. Charleston County Fleet Operations is partnering with high school auto-tech programs to give students hands-on experience maintaining the vehicles behind some of the county’s most important services, including ambulances, firetrucks, police vehicles and construction equipment. For the county, the program is a way to introduce students to a career they may not have considered while building a pipeline of future employees. For students, it can mean getting real-world experience before they even graduate. The work-study program informally launched in January after Fleet Service Manager Chris Sires began reaching out to local schools. Sires said Fleet Operations has struggled to find enough qualified applicants to fill open mechanic positions, prompting the department to look for a different way to recruit. That search led him to high school auto-tech programs. “I just asked the counselors, ‘is there any way I could go talk to the kids in the auto-tech program?’” Sires said. “And it just lit off like wildfire from there.” Students participating in the program can take what they are learning in the classroom and apply it to actual county vehicles and equipment. “This is probably one of the ones that will get you the most amount of experience on so many various pieces of equipment,” Sires said. Fleet Operations has an automotive shop that works on vehicles for the sheriff’s department, solicitor’s office and other county operations. There is also an EMS shop that maintains ambulances, as well as a heavy equipment division. “With ambulances, that’s a whole different ball game,” Sires said. “And then also the heavy equipment. There’s so many aspects of this career. You can decide what you like to do.” Sires said the program also gives students the chance to take their skills outside of a traditional learning environment. “It gives that real-life experience of actually working on one,” Sires said. “Gets them out of the classroom. They have all this awesome shop equipment.” The experience also comes with a major incentive: a starter tool kit worth more than $1,000. The county provides the tools to help students build the equipment they will need as they enter the workforce. Sires said he wishes he had an opportunity like this when he was in high school. “It would’ve been great to have something like this at my high school,” Sires said. “We didn’t have an auto-tech program, but this is what I liked. Didn’t have an option there.” He said that without a program like this, students interested in becoming mechanics may have to enter the workforce without the experience or equipment employers are looking for. “So, the only option I had was to go to work and somebody would have to take a chance on somebody who had absolutely no experience, no tools,” Sires said. Now, he said students can enter the workforce with a head start. “This way, these kids are coming out with some experience, with some knowledge,” Sires said. The program has already turned into jobs for some students. Five students have completed the work-study program since it began, and three have since been hired full-time by Charleston County Fleet Operations. Sires said the program has allowed students to see what a career in fleet maintenance can actually look like. “You can see these kids light up when someone’s there talking to them about real life,” Sires said. Sires said he hopes more businesses and government departments will partner with schools to give students opportunities to gain hands-on experience. He said students may have an idea of what they want to do after high school without realizing how many career paths are available to them. “This is such a need for people, real businesses to partner with the schools to get these kids real experience,” Sires said. “So they have something there to work on all the time.” Charleston County is now looking to expand the program beyond work-study placements. The county is exploring ways to donate decommissioned vehicles to local auto-tech programs so students can use them as hands-on learning tools. The first donation was approved by the county’s Finance Commission last Thursday and will go to the CAS Auto Tech program at West Ashley Center for Advanced Studies. Sires said using retired county vehicles could give students another opportunity to work with the types of equipment they may encounter once they enter the workforce. Students, schools or parents interested in connecting with Charleston County Fleet Operations can reach out directly to Sires at [email protected] for more information. Copyright 2026 WCSC. All rights reserved.