Posted on 01/10/2016 8:38:58 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT
A California retired firefighter came to live here in NE Mississippi. His retirement pay was twice that of what I earn working.
A good ISO rating can keep the cost of your homeowners insurance down.
I can see the internet ads already...
Blow out birthday candles for 210k!
Yeah, I met a retired Colorado fireman once. Worked 20 years, and was retired with full pay, and was on year 25 of his retirement. Heck of a deal.
On the other hand, one of our Postal clerks had worked for years and years, got all the way up to about 60K and retired to a $1,200 per month pay. . . . I can’t understand that. She NEEDS her social security.
As was explained to me by a Federal Wage And Labor employee, overtime pay was created to force businesses to hire more employees and thus make the President look like he’s creating jobs.
This fire department could hire three or four more unemployed Americans for what they pay this guy in overtime.
Where are the cries from the Democrats?
Oh.....that’s right.....he belongs to a union.
Truth is, there are too many firemen in most cities now. There are a lot of areas that used to be volunteer, but now have a full force, they have larger staffs and budgets, despite fire risk going down in the past 40 years. They send fire trucks out for minor fender benders in my area to show that they are around. And they do their fill the boots fundraisers to keep a high profile. City’s should do a cost effectiveness study on their current fire protection, but they can’t because the fire fighters will use 9/11. Fire fighting in 2016 is not a overly dangerous job, and should not set up people for life after 20 years on the job.
How many people do you think there should be per shift then? A shift in most places being 24 hours on & 48 off?
It takes several persons to properly man a fire fighting team. I'm guessing a minimal of 7 but closer to 9 when you count for men needed to drive the pumper from hydrant to tanker.
In the Navy we used six men just for manning the hoses. A fire hose at operational pressure is not like watering the garden with a spray nozzle. The stations are a necessity because in a fire TIME is an enemy. The longer it takes to respond the larger the fire. More modern buildings pose less a risk but still a risk. Older homes and especially older commercial structures even with sprinklers pose significant issues that can easily tie up several companies. They are often homes to vagrants who start fires.
Two fire fighters in the city south of me nearly died in such a fire. One took years to recover to where despite the odds against him about 5 years later recently passed his re-certifications. Certification is everything. Even VFD's must have them. It takes time and money. Not many persons have the time nor skills needed to be a VFD. If you do not have the skills and training you can get yourself and others injured or killed.
FD's respond to wrecks for several reasons. Extractions, fuel spills, First Aid, and other needs because common sense dictates better to be there and stop an incident than loose time that happens before someone on scene arrives from another agency to assess the scene. The may also be dispatched and told to cancel. This is an occupation where Seconds Matter.
We have seen improvements and better outcomes thanks to technology increasing and an increase of organized fire departments. Buy a police scanner if you think your money is wasted. Listen to what goes on. Do you know for example an ambulance for your area may be at the hospital and 15 minutes out but the FD less than 5? You're having a heart attack or your child is choking? What time frame do you wish?
Finally Fire Departments response times are looked at by insurance companies when setting home owner insurance rates. That and the FD's equipment and skills.
Fire Fighting is by no means a safe nor risk free occupation. Never has been and never will be.
The risks in firefighting are always evolving. Car fires and extractions can be very dangerous now, side airbags and electric hybrids pose new dangers along with all the new synthetic materials that emit more toxic chemicals than in years past. Brush and wood fires are very physically taxing because of heavier gear and difficult terrain, they would rather fight structure fires. Every older Fireman I know has a bad back from years of dragging hose and wearing heavy air packs.
When I was in the Navy I was fully fire fighter qualified and was number one nozzle-man on number one hose. One on One in Navy firefighting terminology. I was twice assigned to the ships fire department when we went into the yards for repairs. For some odd reason I liked the job and the second time asked to be put back on it. I thought about trying to continue firefighting when I got out. But I have an issue with heights caused by an Inner Ear issue. On the ship it didn't matter. In civilian firefighting it definitely would have been an issue. I even thought about VFD but I had a home situation for 30 years that was more pressing.
I read the article though. The city needs to find a middle ground on this. If a person works overtime they deserve to be paid. But it should not be beyond 96 hour consecutive hours. I'd say 72 should be a reasonable limit and would help manpower issues be corrected.
My last job I had which was building mechanics had lots of overtime that's how I got by pay wise was in overtime often double shifts. The company I worked for a large health care facility would rather pay overtime than hire more qualified help.
In the case of the man in the article for California I don't see a base pay of $65K as excessive for him because the cost of living there is astronomical. I would expect as well if he was say in Anchorage, Alaska his base pay would be higher as the local economy dictates.
My cousin made a career of fire fighting most of it working as a state emergency management instructor in a poorer southern state. He did it because that's what he liked doing. He recently retired and I think his son is a fireman in a smaller town.
Read the article, it was long and didn't see if it was a Union FD. In the South the FDs are usually Right to Work rather than Union, that's the reason for lower pay.
There are a few greedy ones that take advantage of the system which leads to a rule change that hurts the rest of them. Working that much overtime can be grueling and not good for relationships at home.
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