Fire Service Staffing
The Chippewa Falls Fire & EMS Department is back to full strength, thanks to strategic hiring efforts, a voter-approved referendum and new incentives aimed at attracting firefighter/EMTs
Mayor Karen Bass, who has faced criticism for being abroad during the fires, denies LAFD budget cuts despite records showing a $17.6M reduction
After firing 200 probationary employees this weekend, FEMA was directed “to make a list” of anyone who worked on climate or equity
The county will pay $7,600 for Bobby Bohn’s school, and will also pay him to take 1,200 hours of classes, 450 hours of ambulance rides and hospital hours
The city’s goal is to increase the number of firefighters from about 900 to more than 1,100 over the next five years
Firefighters claim in a federal lawsuit they have been denied overtime pay for nearly a decade
Waterloo Fire Rescue is seeking additional taxpayer support to keep its frequently “browned out” Station No. 6 open full time
The city of Kettering will have to pay more for full-timers, but the lack of part-timers has already boosted overtime costs they want to avoid
Reading Fire Department Chief William Stoudt said a lot of the costs are associated with an inability to recruit and keep paramedics
Danville officials must vote to reject or accept a $1.4 million federal grant that will allow them to hire six new firefighters
Newburgh officials are discussing how to reduce fire and police department overtime that is on pace to fall far short of more than $700,000 in hoped-for cuts
First Selectman Rudy Marconi said “the eight-man shift has worked out very well” and that the department has seen a “definite reduction” in mutual aid needed
Expected shortfalls in both fire and police overtime savings have spurred a citywide spending freeze
The Newport News Firefighters’ Association attended a city council meeting and said the mandatory overtime policy is exhausting its members
A Richmond Fire Department memo said they often do not have enough personnel to meet minimum staffing requirements and that morale is low
Instead of formally logging the hours, employees struck agreements with their supervisors, privately keeping track of “pocket time” in the fire department
Some city officials and cycling activists questioned the proposed use of the money for overtime rather than to make streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians
The 600-member Buffalo Fire Department has been operating without a commissioner or deputy commissioner since the beginning of May
The firefighters allege that East Greenwich is shorting them on overtime by violating the Fair Labor Standards Act
City council members proposed doing away with a plan to purchase new fire department equipment to pay for overtime, but Fire Chief Jim Parrish opposed the idea
The suit claims the city of Hermosa Beach violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying firefighters the correct amount of compensation
The billboard was paid for by a former firefighter in order to stop mandatory overtime for firefighters
The city council decided to establish a new policy that will not allow firefighters to be brought into work when others call in sick
The growing cost of overtime increases when firefighters call in sick and the city cannot afford the trend
The new agreement creates a faster training pipeline for new hires and vacation hour restructuring
Last year, about 31 percent of the budgeted overtime expenses were associated with firefighters calling in sick
Engineer-paramedic Michael Lamb was the district’s second-highest paid employee last year, getting $137,193 in regular pay and $151,516 in overtime
The retirement of six 30-year veterans have created a six-person void in the city’s firefighting force
The average fire captain earned $301,791 in total compensation in 2016
About 31 percent of the budgeted overtime expenses is associated with firefighters calling in sick
Firefighters said the city is improperly calculating their overtime pay and they now want to recoup their losses for the past three years
The brownouts began a year ago as a measure taken by the city to cap overtime
The firefighters allege that they worked thousands of extra hours for as many as 10 years
MOST POPULAR
- Poll call: How prevalent are residency requirements?
- Officials: Pa. fire dept. $500K over budget
- Fla. fire union questions battalion chief’s overtime pay for paramedic school
- N.Y. city told to reevaluate fire department overtime, ambulance service funding in 2024 budget
- Staffing challenges: The least satisfying part of the job