Farenheit 451 in California - Firefighters making $400K per year with OT

Look at any state in the nation and compare the base salary and the salary increase by year or rank and you will see which state has the highest paid firefighters buy a VERY wide margin (up to 10x of other states when OT is factored in). The pay for Cali FF is about 74% above the national average. When you compare these rates to those of active duty military in a war zone, something seems to be off here. When we take into account the fact that Cali has the most debt of any state in the Union and constantly asks for federal aid in whatever category possible (and they try to make up new categories whenever possible), we have to wonder if there isn't some incentive to not contain these fires ASAP, as when they are fighting them, they get OT and hazard pay, which I think makes the pay 4x the normal pay, if not higher. None of this even takes into consideration the outrageous state benefits packages (retirement, health care, etc) which I don't have access to the data, though anecdotally it's the best in the state as per the profession(s) (teachers, police, utility workers, legislators, etc).

Over the years there have been countless reports about mysterious fires that were 90-95% contained suddenly rearing back up to "full size" within hours as if there had been no effort to contain it at all. Time after time, the "cause" of the fires are mysterious or unknown and too often blamed on a cigarette (try starting a fire with a lit cig sometime, even with 100% perfect kindling like completely dry pine needles - it's still tough and next to impossible to happen "naturally/organically" w/o the help of human manipulation).

There are MANY other factors that come into play here, destroying an area where they don't permit rebuilding due to laws passed since the original homes were built (IIRC it is related to Agenda 21 of 93 or one of those UN prop's that is linked to US Federal laws often using the EPA to enforce them). To say there is no incentive to allow these areas to burn is disingenuous and naive as there is financial motivation for the FF's as well as the state gov where they can rake in Fed emergency $$ to help fight the fire and then to help rebuild. This money that comes into the state GREATLY stimulates the economy by fixing the infrastructure, rebuilding houses/businesses, replacing damaged property and all the $ that is made in the fighting the fires (1,000's of FF's making $150-400,000 and then spending that $ in their local economies). There are many more ways but I don't want to offend people as this is a sensitive topic and they are even more conspiratorial but even more financially lucrative than those mentioned.



Here are articles about pay for Cali FF's

blog.transparentcalifornia.com...

www.dailynews.com...

www.indeed.com...

When you compare the pay for Cali firefighters to those of US military personnel, you will see who has the cushier job, as far as pay goes
Here is pay for US military

www.goarmy.com...

work.chron.com...

www.payscale.com...=U.S._Army/Salary

When I was about 20, I was told that the best job I "could get" was as a FF in the LA area. I was told it was the cushiest job you can imagine, great pay and you probably average about 10-15 hrs per week of work (actual work), on top of the outrageous pay there are even better state benefits that would make state congressmen blush.

Firefighter pay aside here, my husband's been lamenting the peanuts pay for the military for years. The comparison just shows that they're underpaid for the work they do.

Go compared with other militaries worldwide, it's a bit embarrassing to look at. I believe Australia pays the best globally, by around triple for the same damn jobs.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Firefighters lighting fires....business as usual?

This asks for some heavy evidence. Off to read the articles you linked.

S+F

Peace

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

They're underpaid...
www.kcra.com...

At least 53 firefighters have lost their homes to a wildfire in Butte County, and that number is expected to grow.

The International Association of Firefighters reported those losses as the Camp Fire has grown to 111,000 acres at 25 percent containment as of Sunday evening.


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“To see the number of them that were out there fighting the fire knowing that their own homes were lost, it’s unbelievable,” Tim Aboudara with the association said.

The IAFF set up a disaster relief center for firefighters in Chico and helped more than a dozen emergency responders.

“He was just blocks away from his own home, engaged in a fire fight, well aware that his own home was probably on fire,” Aboudara said about a firefighter who visited the center. “He had to stay on mission and keep doing his job.”

No way in hell I could keep on task while my own property burned down. These dude's are badass and deserve the pay.

Could be what the Trump Tweets were referring too.

Fun fact:

Several years ago, I went to go watch a house fire in my old neighborhood.

Approximately 20 firefighters showed up.

45 minutes into containment, they stopped spraying. Literally, they were standing around texting on their phones.

I noticed there was still a fire burning in the attic, which was going completely unnoticed; I tried to bring them to their attention, where they told me to shut up and get back and let the "professionals" handle the situation.

20 minutes later of them standing around and texting and not doing a goddamn thing about anything, the bulk of the house caught on fire once again. This happened again afterward, putting them on scene for around 4 hours.

3 hours of which was completely THEIR fault, and nobody or nothing else's.

I'm not saying it's a widespread problem, but I watched it happen with my own eyes..... Cost the owners their house, but the responders got some nice overtime out of it.

There's some evidence that the fires were started by sparking power lines:

www.dailymail.co.uk...

If there were a solar flare or CME, that extra current can actually cause power lines to spark as in the Carrington Event of 1859

en.wikipedia.org...

Fluctuations in the Earth/Solar magnetic field can actually be transported into the Earth's mantle through magnetic field lines. No different from induction melting in a furnace. That will cause earthquakes and volcanic activity.

I've been given the task of lighting and keeping a firebox lit when my parents were out. That involves first lighting kindling (anything from newspaper to small twigs and leaves), then getting that to light larger branches and finally the main log.
Once a branch or log is burning it can burn out if there isn't enough air flow, but the minute air flow is increased, it will start burning again.

originally posted by: dothedew
Fun fact:

Several years ago, I went to go watch a house fire in my old neighborhood.

Approximately 20 firefighters showed up.

45 minutes into containment, they stopped spraying. Literally, they were standing around texting on their phones.

I noticed there was still a fire burning in the attic, which was going completely unnoticed; I tried to bring them to their attention, where they told me to shut up and get back and let the "professionals" handle the situation.

20 minutes later of them standing around and texting and not doing a goddamn thing about anything, the bulk of the house caught on fire once again. This happened again afterward, putting them on scene for around 4 hours.

3 hours of which was completely THEIR fault, and nobody or nothing else's.

I'm not saying it's a widespread problem, but I watched it happen with my own eyes..... Cost the owners their house, but the responders got some nice overtime out of it.

I remember seeing British firefighters deal with a chimney fire that had gone behind a wall. They did not stop tearing apart that home until they were absolutely certain there wasn't a single piece of burning wall.

Of course, the overtime pay is all coming out of Federal emergency greants along with probably some of their regular wages for time spent fighting the fire they classified as eligible.

It would be beneficial for a fire fighter to start a fire if they get that much pay. Ninety nine percent of firefighters would never do that though, thank god, but that one in a hundred that is underwater financially might think of it.

I think firefighters should get paid a good wage, but I think that California might be somewhat too high even with their high cost of living there.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Your links mostly talk about understaffed firedepartments..

These overtime payments indicate an average workweek of more than 100 hours, said Fellner, director of research for the Nevada-based nonprofit.

“This is a recipe for disaster given the life-or-death situations firefighters routinely encounter,” Fellner said of the long hours it would take to incur so much overtime.

Los Angeles officials, however, say the report fails to explain the complex reasons for its firefighter overtime: a five-year hiring freeze coupled with the retirements of seasoned firefighters have led to long-standing staffing shortages amid a rise in emergency response.

I need a little more proof before I'm convinced they are generating their own work.

Peace

paying firefighters doesn't bother me paying useless politicians in DC who sleep through their job and lobby for corporations are a much bigger problem

I'm totally ok with firefighters making big money

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Firefighters in our area are paid very well here also.

So here's the weird thing. I live in the country. We don't have a huge population. There is a ton of water everywhere.
We have very cold winters and sometimes there are fires from wood stoves or barn fires and things like that. It is very rare for houses to burn down. So rare when it happens it's on the news with all the details.

We have approximately 4+ firefighters Per 1000 people (doesn't that seem high?)
And they are always always recruiting for more.
Now let me give you some perspective, We have 6 police for our entire county, but only ONE for our village.
So only ONE cop, but we have almost 50 firefighters? Does that make any sense?

They just built not one but two new fire stations, and have tons of trucks.
I seriously think this is some kind of money scheme for the village.

a reply to: stormcell

Some telegraph operators could continue to send and receive messages despite having disconnected their power supplies.[19]

Powered by induction apparently.

However what we may be able to deduce from that may vary.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Not defending them getting paid that much, but context is needed.

The cost of living in CA is usually higher than other places.

I'm not sure about the whole state, but I know that the firefighters in SD county are required to be Paramedics as well as fire fighters. And have to pay for their own medical training.

They run the ambulances in addition to the fire engines. So it sounds like they are getting paid to do two jobs.

As my corporate friends say. Whatever the market will bear. Guess I’m on my way to California. Can’t discriminate against an over the hill veteran can they? Lol. Of snap, I’m white. Never mind.

All bs aside.... god bless the fire fighters and first responders. Your service has no price tag. I’ve known many first responders, several are my family (including myself). We as a society should base our toleration of ceo pay upon service, not apparent worth.

originally posted by: Cauliflower
Could be what the Trump Tweets were referring too.

Could you fill me in on what he tweeted? I dont' follow his tweets.



On another note, a few nights ago I passed by a gas station and it was completely cordoned off and the parking lot and the lots of the businesses on either side were FILLED with emergency vehicles. I drove by and on the way back about 45+ mins later I stopped and asked the guy "standing guard at the perimeter" what was going on and he said he didn't know, he thought a fuel spill. How can someone 75 ft away from the incident not know what is going on? I asked another person at another entrance of the gas station, and same answer, I asked if a tanker spilled while refilling the underground tanks, or if it was a pump, or what - I figured these were easy questions that they should know, as well as if it was diesel or gasoline. "I don't know".

So they had 6 full size fire engines there, 2 tankers, 3 "mini engines" IDK what they are exactly, 4 ambulances and about 10-14 of those converted pickup's to fire-truck equipment vehicles (like F650-750's) along with normal pickups' and many other emergency vehicles.

I pulled into the neighboring business and I got motioned to GTFOOT, even though the biz was still open! I asked a fire fighter what was going on and they said it was a small spill from the pump. I asked if the hose broke, or if the handle got stuck on or something - nope, just a "small spill" which I am guessing is 5 gallons or less.

They had runnoff barriers setup so it wouldn't contaminate the biz next door, but it was all being washed down the gutter of the street down to the creek at the bottom of the hill.

Absolutely amazing the amount of response that came out for an incident like that. If that was an industrial businesses, they would have used 1-3 bags of kitty litter or fuller's earth, allowed it to sit for 10-20 mins, swept it up and the remaining liquids would have evaporated in 10 mins or so, if there was anything even left. Oh, one man could have done all that too.

originally posted by: DigginFoTroof
When we take into account the fact that Cali has the most debt of any state in the Union and constantly asks for federal aid in whatever category possible (and they try to make up new categories whenever possible)...

California is one of only fourteen states in the country that is a net contributor to the Federal Government, meaning they pay in more than they get back.

Is it enough money to cover their medical needs? Would a severe burn bankrupt them?

I HATE this encrypted EMS/LE/Fire radio communications. When I see 4-5 cruisers blast past my house at 4:30am with lights and sires screaming, doing 70-80 in a 35, I'd like to know what is so important for all 4-5 of them to be in a row, all with sirens on (that is super loud with that many sirens), especially when they are coming from the least populated part of their coverage (they were heading towards the town, why would 4-5 be where they were, that is ALL partrol cars on duty at the time). And you know what, I'd be able to find out what was going on if it wasn't encrypted.

There has NEVER been one EMS, Fire, or police attacked due to information released over the comm radio in out county or even the surrounding counties (~ 5 million people).

So why the need?

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Because overkill is underrated.

Now back to those firefighters ignoring fires to raise their paycheck...

Peace