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Firefighter Pay Raises

September 29th, 2015 by flanews

Imagine putting your life on the line by battling wildfires, but only earning a few bucks more per hour than minimum wage.  As Matt Galka tells us, that’s the story for many state fire fighters, and the state’s Agriculture Commissioner wants to change that.

The average Florida teacher makes around $46,000 according to the Department of Education.

Jobs website Indeed dot com says you’re likely to make around $35,000 dollars for an entry level job in Tampa or Jacksonville.

And way below all of that, you’d make around $27,000 thousand dollars as a state firefighter.  Below average pay for an above average job according Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam.

“Our firefighters are demonstrably underpaid relative to their peers in other southeastern states,” said Putnam.

Putnam’s pushing for a $2,000 dollar pay raise for the state workers battling blazes.

A pay raise was already approved earlier this year by the legislature, but eventually vetoed by the Governor.

“They’re certainly putting their lives on the line to protect property and other lives of Floridians. As we’ve seen out west this year and in Florida as recently as four years ago,” said Putnam.

Fire officials say low pay forces a high turnover rate among state firefighters which could be a safety problem.

“A seasoned firefighter is a safer firefighter. The one with experience the one with training, and when we rotate and have to bring in new firefighters day in and day out it not only is more expensive for us, it adds that additional element of safety that we worry about,” said Jim Karles, the Florida Forest Service Director.

More than 500 Florida state firefighters were deployed this year to battle wildfires in other parts of the country.

The Governor justified the pay raise veto earlier this year by saying that not just one group of state workers should be receiving a pay raise.

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