Money Isn't Why Minn. On-Call Firefighters Serve

Dec. 01--A commitment to serve and family tradition often attracts men and women to firefighting.

It's a dangerous job that takes a deep commitment of time and energy, as well as hundreds of hours of training. The money, area firefighters say, is low on the list of why they are drawn to the job.

That might be a good thing, because they aren't making much of it.

A St. Cloud Times analysis found that paid-on-call firefighters around Central Minnesota make anywhere from $800 a year to $5,000 a year, depending on the city. They respond to hundreds of calls a year; each can last an hour to several days.

While being roused at midnight is a common point of sympathy for firefighters, responding to daytime fire calls means some actually lose money while they serve, since firefighting pays less than their day job, according to area fire chiefs. That only adds to a growing challenge for fire departments to find reliable daytime responders. Some firefighters use vacation time or paid-time-off to make up the pay lost when they are on fire calls.

St. Cloud Fire Department is the only one in the region with a career fire department. All other cities rely on paid-on-call firefighters, residents who typically have outside work and are paid hourly for training and responding to calls.

How much firefighters are paid and how many calls they must respond to depends on the city.

Fire chiefs say the job attracts people who want to give back to their community. It's a desire to serve, not to make money, that draws them.

Family tradition

Sauk Rapids Fire Chief Tony Hommerding said firefighting is a tradition in his family. His father was a firefighter and he spent a lot of hours of his childhood at the fire hall around the fire trucks he loved.

Hommerding remembers one fire chief who would go around the community, talking to business owners to encourage them to join the department. He would tell them that they make money off the community and therefore are responsible for keeping them safe.

"It's about giving back to the community," Hommerding said.

Sauk Rapids firefighters make, on average, about $5,000 a year. Hommerding said when he joined the department, he was surprised to find out they even got paid. There was so much more to it for him.

"It was the camaraderie that you can't get anywhere else," he said.

Hommerding also praises the families who support firefighters, especially during the holidays, when family gatherings could be interrupted without warning.

"It's the families, the support they get from their wives or significant others, that aid them in being a terrific firefighter," he said.

Family tradition is the reason Rice Fire Chief Scott Janski joined the department. His father served on the department.

"I grew up around the fire station, so it was natural for me to become one," he said.

Finding daytime responders is a big issue in Rice, as well. The town doesn't have a big business base to draw from, he said. And the businesses can't always let their employees go to respond to fires, especially since some calls can last for hours.

Rice firefighters earn $12 an hour.

Community pride

Sartell Fire Chief Ken Heim said it was always a lifelong dream to become a firefighter. Joining the department is about a sense of pride in the community and giving back, he said.

"It's not about the money," Heim said.

Sartell firefighters make, on average, about $2,600 a year. They typically work anywhere from 10-20 hours a month. He notes that he is afraid to add up how much time he puts in as chief.

There are a lot of families who are involved in the Sartell Fire Department, he said. His own son recently joined.

"It gets in your blood," he said.

The department also faces issues with getting firefighters who are able to respond during the day. Heim said it's hard to find employers that are willing to let firefighters leave during work time. Family demands make it hard to find people to respond during summer weekends, too.

To deal with some of those issues, Heim thinks the future of paid-on-call departments is to have duty crews. Many departments in the Twin Cities already have changed to the system that schedules a certain number of firefighters to be stationed at the fire hall.

The duty crews can handle 95 percent of the calls that come in, he said. Bigger events would mean calling in the entire department, as they do now.

Foley Fire Chief Mark Pappenfus spent a lot of time at the fire hall growing up because a family friend was the fire chief. When he grew up, he knew he wanted to be a part of an organization that gives back to the community.

"We're a close group," he said of the firefighters.

Foley firefighters make, on average, about $760 a year. Pappenfus echoed concerns from other chiefs about finding daytime firefighters.

Foley doesn't have a large industrial employer and many people work outside the city, he said. Plus, the training is much more time-consuming than ever, he said.

"It's a lot more than it used to be," he said.

Helping people and giving back to the community also attracted St. Augusta Fire Chief Art Voelker to the job. He also serves on the St. Cloud Fire Department.

He said he hasn't had a hard time attracting firefighters.

He said in a small town, everyone knows each other and wants to help one another.

"When you've grown up in a community, that plays an even bigger role because you are helping people you've known for a long time," Voelker said.

And the fire department is like a family to its members. St. Augusta firefighters are paid $10 an hour for training and meetings and $12 an hour for responding to emergency calls.

"The guys depend on each other," he said. "When your lives depend on each other, you build a close relationship."