Who says SF firefighters actually have to live in SF?
If the city wants to make residency a condition of employment, the city can pay them more.
Otherwise, they can live further inland where real estate is less outrageous.
United Airlines mechanics at SFO live several hours east and charter buses to take them to and from work.
I can read....I realize that was the entire state, however, I used SF as an example. I could have used LA County. SF and LA are the largest fire departments in the State. Firefighters in the North Counties make far less....
Also, you would be very hard pressed to live in the nine Bay Area counties ( a common term used there) and survive on $65K. For example, the average home in Sunnyvale, CA, (about 30 miles south) is far north of $1 mil and Marin to the North is even higher. Out to the East (inland), towards Livermore are also closing in $1mil,( if not already there)...
I guess you could drive the five hours to Nevada and live there?