Fire Service Staffing
Los Angeles has one of the lowest firefighter-to-resident ratios in the nation, falling behind cities like Chicago, Dallas and Houston
Fire officials chose not to keep firefighters on duty and pre-deploy extra engine companies despite the weather forecast and increasing winds
Los Angeles and Los Angeles County fire chiefs said they do not have the staffing and are stretched to their maximum limits battling the devastating wildfires
Two firefighters each worked more than 6,000 hours, which amounted to “almost 70 percent of the time they are living and breathing”
During the past four years, the Watertown Fire Department’s overtime has more than doubled
The firefighters said the district should have included not just hourly pay in its calculation of the regular pay rate, but also other compensation
With over half of their staff taking the city’s firefighter exam, the department’s EMS team will have to work overtime
The fire division plans to decrease its overtime by about $60,000 next year and lower the number of firefighters on each shift
Wilmington Fire Chief Anthony Goode said it would cost nearly $100,000 per firefighter to fill the department’s vacancies
The practice, used to halt overtime, was suspended the day after two Wilmington firefighters were killed in a rowhouse fire.
Those payments follow a change in the overtime payment structure after it became clear the city no longer could use what’s known as the “fluctuating work week” method
One city official called the fire department’s overtime budget of $1.48 million unacceptable
