Firefighters Not Overcompensated

* In response to Tom Steele’s Oct. 26 letter and his remarks about “union” firemen whining, I don’t know where he derived his information that firemen only work 24 hours a week and make up to $125,000 per year plus benefits.

Firemen work 56 hours a week. We work 24 hours at a time two to three days per week. As far as the inflated salary amounts that are routinely published, those amounts typically include numerous overtime hours (sometimes up to an extra 1,000 hours a year) and a benefit package that the City Council here in Anaheim is trying to take away at every juncture.

Steele projects a typical attitude that does not equate the dangers firefighters face with police work. Is police work dangerous? Absolutely! But police are “on call” as well.

Police officers and deputy sheriffs don’t show up to work and pull out blazing six-guns until it is time to go home. Both occupations entail very dangerous activities. And both occupations entail very benign activities. Firefighters want the same things Steele wants: a relatively secure future and the ability to provide for our families.

TONY BEDOLLA

Anaheim

* Unfortunately, Steele’s letter shows how little many in the public know about the fire departments that serve their communities.

My husband is with the Orange County Fire Authority. They work a 56-hour workweek, and his salary as a captain is not even half that which Steele quotes as a fireman’s pay.

If Steele would let us know where we can get a job where we can get paid upward of $100,000 for only 24 hours of work each week, I’d like to apply. Steele’s letter is a perfect example of why the firefighters are doing so much now to educate the public about their jobs and lack of fair compensation. I’m sorry Steele considers this “whining.”

Also, in regard to the job of a firefighter not being dangerous unless they are on a fire, I can recall many stories of my husband being in traffic collisions and almost getting hit by other cars. In addition, firefighters are exposed to hepatitis and AIDS on a regular basis. Each day when he leaves for his job, there is the possibility that during the course of his job he may lose his life.

JEANA SCHORR

Mission Viejo

* We firefighters work 56 hours a week. Most of us need to work a second job or overtime, which places our workweek in the 80- to 100-hours category.

The reason for overtime is that we are entitled to time off from work, and this has to be filled in behind us with qualified professionals. Secondly, the salaries that have been reported in the papers are total compensation for the highest-paid employees, including all benefits. I make nowhere near that much money and have the paycheck stubs to prove it.

Firefighting is the most dangerous occupation in the world. Yes, going into burning buildings is dangerous. But so are brush fires, hazardous-materials incidents, swift-water rescues, airport operations, working on the side of the freeway, and being coughed upon or bled upon by strangers who could have a myriad of diseases.

Has Steele seen his child’s face in that lifeless body that he’s holding in his arms? I have.

The Orange County Fire Authority utilizes one of the leanest work forces to accomplish what many like-sized fire departments do on a day-to-day basis with more manpower. In fact, half of our work force is composed of lesser-trained paid-call firefighters that back us up. Steele’s statement “We taxpayers are not getting our money worth now” is quite true.

ANDY WIKIDAL

Rancho Santa Margarita