[quote=no_such_reality][quote=CA renter]
The largest chunk of overtime for firefighters is earned during fire season. They are working 12-24 hours at a time (I’ve known some who were awake for five days straight), breathing smoke and working in extremely hot, dangerous conditions, sleeping in the dirt or on top of fire engines for a few hours at a time, etc. They can be deployed for weeks or even months at a time (that’s where those really high O/T numbers come from). If you think they’re going to do that for free, you’re crazy.[/quote]
Nice story and far from reality. The truth is they work a 24 hour shift. They get paid for being assigned to the firehouse and ‘available’. They get paid to sleep. They get paid to take the truck down to the local Togos to get lunch. They get paid when they swing the fire engine over to Ralph’s and pick of groceries for the station. They get paid when they’re putting Alpo on each others plate like in LA.
They may go out during fire season and really bank the money, but the fact of the matter is the fire department management, union and fire fighters are all complicit in keeping and maintaining a system structured to generate massive OT payment. How many private sector jobs make $75,000 a year as an hourly employee?
I don’t want firefighters working days or weeks at at a time, it’s a SAFETY isse. I don’t want firefighters working 60-70 hours a week. I’ve seen what 60-70 hours of office work does to people after just a few weeks. So either they aren’t ‘working’ or they’re zombies and that’s a safety issue.
The culture of overtime needs to change.
The neener neener attitude of those defending them needs to change. I can work there? is the best you’ve got? I could reroof my house myself, but I don’t. When I got the first idiotic bid for thousands over market rate, did I think well, I could do it myself? No! I thought ‘does he think I’m stupid?’ I then used the realistic bids that weren’t gouging me, got a couple more and awarded the business to another contractor.
The fire department, union and firefighters are all complicit in a culture that is gouging and bilking the taxpayers.
As for signing up for those jobs, many fire departments have so many applicants, they aren’t taking more applications.
From the SD Government Fire & Rescue careers page: “The City does not advertise widely for positions where the number of local applicants significantly exceeds the number of jobs available, such as Fire Recruit. These jobs are opened infrequently and the resulting eligibility list usually lasts for two years. “[/quote]
NSR,
This was addressed earlier in this thread. These positions are for **recruit** positions, where the department provides all the training. Most fire departments do NOT have these positions, and those that do, will open them up only when there are too few qualified applicants for their regular positions, or if they need to satisfy some affirmative action quotas.
BTW, since you claim to have such a solid understanding of the public safety sector, why don’t you tell us all about your proposals to cut or significantly reduce overtime? I’m sure the people who actually do this for a living and have decades of experience would love to hear all about it.
