PANAMA CITY BEACH — “What’s your life worth to you?” Parker Fire Chief Andrew Kelly asked.
It’s a moment burned into Panama City Beach firefighter Brandon Polkowski’s memory. One of his co-workers brought his elderly mother-in-law into the station. Her health already was deteriorating when she started to spiral downward in front of his eyes. She experienced stroke-like symptoms before collapsing to the floor in cardiac arrest.
Polkowski was part of the team that went to work. Using advanced life support equipment available at the station, the firefighters brought her back to life.
“You don’t give these people a lot of thought until you need them,” Callaway Mayor Thomas Abbott said of firefighters.
Firefighters have been a hot topic with the Callaway City Commission, specifically how much they should be paid.
Callaway has one of the smallest full-time departments in Bay County, with just nine total employees and six firefighters, although the commission recently approved two more firefighters for the department.
As for compensation, entry-level firefighters in Callaway were receiving the lowest salary of any of the departments in Bay County at just $8.63 per hour for a 53-hour week, equaling $457.39. The City Commission approved raising the starting figure to $10.25 per hour on a 53-hour week, of $543.25 per week, which is more consistent with area departments but behind neighbors Springfield and Panama City.
Callaway Fire Chief David Joyner said the department had been experiencing steady turnover recently because of low pay and these raises are meant to halt that trend.
“It’s usually within a year,” Joyner said. “That’s the turnover rate.”
Joyner has previously and proudly described his firefighters as the “Maseratis” of firefighters because of the versatile experience they receive. With the small size of the department, firefighters perform a myriad of duties on calls — driving the truck, pumping the water and guiding hoses, but also responding to medical calls and car accidents.
“We ask a lot of our new firefighters,” Joyner said.
P.C., Bay County
Only Panama City has what would be considered a traditional department structure in Bay County. Covering five stations, Panama City has 77 sworn personnel and six support staff, with 33 firefighters, making it the largest full-time career department in Bay County. With more firefighters available on each call, Panama City firefighters can specialize in particular tasks.
Starting firefighters in Panama City receive $9.95 an hour for a 56-hour week, which equates to $13.94 in a 40-hour-a-week schedule, which works out to $557.73 per week. Joyner said Panama City was the department his firefighters wanted to join.
“I don’t have a retention problem,” Panama City Fire Chief Alex Baird said.
A firefighter trainee with Bay County has a minimum salary of $10.93 in a 53-hour week, or $579.29 per week, but can receive as much as $18.02, $955.06, with prior experience. The trainees are then moved up to firefighter between six months and a year, with a salary starting at $12.01 an hour, $636.53.
Bay County has 54 people in its department, with 16 firefighters on duty on any given day, but that personnel is spread over six stations. Bay County has 12 stations and the department supplements the career firefighters with volunteers.
“It’s certainly more challenging than having an all-career department,” Bay County Emergency Services Chief Mark Bowen said.
Other cities
On a much smaller scale, Parker also uses a combination volunteer and career department. Parker has three paid firefighters, with one working per shift in a somewhat supervisory role over 17 volunteers. The starting salary for firefighters is $10 per hour on a 53-hour work week, $530.
“It’s a problem in all of Bay County,” Parker Fire Chief Kelly said of low firefighter pay.
Panama City Beach, Lynn Haven and Springfield are set up similar to Callaway, with firefighters having to be more versatile. Lynn Haven’s department has 18 employees on shift at a time. Their starting salary is $10.34 per hour on a 53-hour week, $548.02, but there is a 10 percent increase in pay with Emergency Medical Technician certification.
Panama City Beach has had a change in salary structure, raising its starting firefighter pay to $10.56 an hour for a 53-hour week, $559.68, in 2007. The city is currently working on another raise. Chief John Daly said he was losing many firefighters to South Walton.
Panama City Beach has 18 firefighters and a department of 32. The beach has the added requirement that a paramedic must be available on every call. South Walton pays their firefighter/EMTs — to be hired firefighters must have EMT certification — $13.67 an hour to start and $15.71 when they are trained to work as a solo paramedic.
Springfield has a department of 14 with nine firefighters. Their starting pay is $11.33 an hour for a 53 hour week, $600.49 per week.
“Nobody ever gets paid enough,” Springfield Chief Michael Laramore said.
Yet the common theme among firefighters is that they are not doing the job for money.
“If you’re here to get rich, you’re in the wrong business,” Daly said.
Polkowski enjoys the team dynamic of the station. It reminds him of athletics.
“There really is a family atmosphere here,” Polkowski said.
Parker firefighter Matt Jensen said it was the job he has wanted since he was a child.
“Our job is to save lives,” Jensen said.
Polkowski, Jensen and Springfield firefighter Shannon Hogberg agree that helping people is an important part of the job’s appeal. Public service is the example Hogberg, a single mom of two, wants to set for her children.
“I want them to be proud of me,” she said.