Paid on Call?

[Guest]

I have a question hopefully some of you can answer. I moved to Minnesota a few years ago after leaving the Police Department in NYC and things are certainly different in this part of the world. I was looking to volunteer as a FF but almost all the departments out here are career or something termed "paid on call". I was reading the pamphlets the departments put out and it seems like all the requirements are the same as career except you need to live or work within 5 min of a station. Has anyone ever heard of this type of department? The pay is also somewhat confusing for me. I am trying to understand if you get paid for being on call or if you are paid by the call. I know much of this would probably be department specific but I am looking for some info so I don’t go to the informational meeting unprepared. Any help would be great. Thanks.

Chris

[T. John 21]

I have a question hopefully some of you can answer. I moved to Minnesota a few years ago after leaving the Police Department in NYC and things are certainly different in this part of the world. I was looking to volunteer as a FF but almost all the departments out here are career or something termed "paid on call". I was reading the pamphlets the departments put out and it seems like all the requirements are the same as career except you need to live or work within 5 min of a station. Has anyone ever heard of this type of department? The pay is also somewhat confusing for me. I am trying to understand if you get paid for being on call or if you are paid by the call. I know much of this would probably be department specific but I am looking for some info so I don't go to the informational meeting unprepared. Any help would be great. Thanks.

Chris

Chris,

Where in MN are you? I just moved to Elk River, MN in September and am the career chief for a 40 member paid-on-call Department. What specific questions do you have? Every department operates a little differently but I will be happy to answer any questions if I can. All of our members must reside within a 3 mile radius of the station and are required to respond to a minimum of 30% of all calls (this is strictly enforced) and mandatory training. All are considered "employees" of the City and are paid an hourly wage for each call they respond to (a minimum of a hour). Pay fluctuates depending on the person's position and there are step increases for additional training. All firefighters have regular day-time jobs and carry a pager. We have a number of City employees that are also on the Department so our day-time response is very good. The Department runs, on average, about 400 calls a year (no medical). The selection process is competitive and done through testing, interviews and passing a physical agility and background check. Unlike most volunteer departments, our officers are chosen through a selection process and not through popularity. In addition to a full time Chief, we have a full time Fire Marshal and Fire Prevention Specialist as well as a part time office assistant. We are also expanding a duty officer program which puts an officer on-call at all week nights and weekends with a City vehicle and they are paid on-call stipend. Although not a City agency or part of the fire department, the firefighters also operate the ambulance service which runs about 1,500 calls a year. All firefighters also collect benefits through a relief association.

There is a variety of different models throughout the State. Some utilize paid-on-call positions to staff the department 24/7 (they rotate shifts) and some are still all volunteer. It all depends on where you are.

It has been a very enjoyable experience to date. I have a very professional team of firefighters that are extremely talented and hard workers.

John

Edited June 13, 2010 by T. John

[Guest]

Chris,

Where in MN are you? I just moved to Elk River, MN in September and am the career chief for a 40 member paid-on-call Department. What specific questions do you have? Every department operates a little differently but I will be happy to answer any questions if I can. All of our members must reside within a 3 mile radius of the station and are required to respond to a minimum of 30% of all calls (this is strictly enforced) and mandatory training. All are considered "employees" of the City and are paid an hourly wage for each call they respond to (a minimum of a hour). Pay fluctuates depending on the person's position and there are step increases for additional training. All firefighters have regular day-time jobs and carry a pager. We have a number of City employees that are also on the Department so our day-time response is very good. The Department runs, on average, about 400 calls a year (no medical). The selection process is competitive and done through testing, interviews and passing a physical agility and background check. Unlike most volunteer departments, our officers are chosen through a selection process and not through popularity. In addition to a full time Chief, we have a full time Fire Marshal and Fire Prevention Specialist as well as a part time office assistant. We are also expanding a duty officer program which puts an officer on-call at all week nights and weekends with a City vehicle and they are paid on-call stipend. Although not a City agency or part of the fire department, the firefighters also operate the ambulance service which runs about 1,500 calls a year. All firefighters also collect benefits through a relief association.

There is a variety of different models throughout the State. Some utilize paid-on-call positions to staff the department 24/7 (they rotate shifts) and some are still all volunteer. It all depends on where you are.

It has been a very enjoyable experience to date. I have a very professional team of firefighters that are extremely talented and hard workers.

John

Hi John,

I live in St. Paul but work on the Minneapolis/Golden Valley border. Golden Valley is advertising for Paid on call and I work about 4 min from station 2. Being from New York City, I had never heard of this type of department and was naturally curious. I am assuming the boot FF would need to go through FF I and II and be certified at least as a first responder? I was wondering about the selection process so thanks for mentioning that aspect. This seems like a fairly efficient system, how is the relationship with the career departments? Back home it was not always the warmest of relations

Chris

[IzzyEng4 427]

Paid-On-Call or Call Firefighters have been around for many years. Cities like New Haven, Bridgeport, Hartford CT and Sprinfield, MA utilzed them for many years durng the 1800s and early 1900s until permanent staffing became better. There are several departments in MA that still have Paid-On-Call FFs who work or live in thier comunities and leave to go to the firehouse or to the scene, responding like volunteer firefighters do.

If you look to history, a paid-on-call firefighter in therory are similar to the old auxiliary volunteer firefighting units that were in charge of getting the neighbohood hose jumper to a fire scene and help the regular / permanent firefighters battle the blaze. Today, they would be more in line with the "Utility Man" concept if they stay at the station. In essence they are part-time employees of the fire department / fire district and are covered under its insurance.

I know that a lot of the fire departments on Cape Cod still operate with Paid-On-Call Firefighters (not to be confused with Call Firefighters which is a term mostly used to describe volunteers in a combination department).

[antiquefirelt 994]

While it sounds different from the FD's you're describing in MN, we call most VFD's POC here as most firefighters receive stipends or an hourly rate for training and incident responses. There are very few truly volunteer FD's in my state.

[Guest]

Thank you for all the replies. I spoke to one of the guys at work today after I found out he was a POC LT for another local department. Basically you are paid by the hour while you are on call. The FF is also covered under the city pension plan, fully vesting after 10 years and is covered by workman's comp. Most places outside of NY don't have 3/4's for injured PD and FD. This is an interesting system and I am looking forward to finding out more information as I attend the informational meeting. Career is extremely difficult to get out here, honestly, probably (if what trusted sources have told me) a little harder then back home in NY. Thank you all again for the information, I appreciate it.

Chris

[abaduck 123]

This sounds a lot like the system used in the UK. There are virtually zero unpaid volunteers in that system; the busiest and big-city houses are staffed by 'wholetime' (what we would call career) FFs, quieter and more rural/small-town houses are staffed by what they call 'retained' FFs; they live or work within 5 mins of the house, they get paid an annual retainer (hence 'retained' FFs), and are paid at union hourly rates for time worked - calls, training, drills, maintenance. They're considered career FFs, just not full-time ones, are trained pretty much to the same level, and generally join the union. The system works well for the UK, and I'm surprised it's not more used over here.