Before we elicit insults and outrage, let’s acknowledge the givens: Firefighters do dangerous, difficult work and they should be paid well for it.
It’s unlikely heaven itself could have gotten in front of the wind-whipped fires that have ravaged L.A.
Problems with electricity and water pressure likely played a part in the devastation, as did “unhardened” homes and less-than-perfect planning and communications.
But today we’re going to look at something else: the tremendous reliance on firefighter overtime that the Los Angeles City Council and Los Angeles Board of Supervisors have embraced, in lieu of hiring more firefighters.
A firefighter attaches a hose to a fire hydrant as a market burns behind him along Lake Avenue during the Eaton fire in Altadena Wednesday morning Jan. 8, 2025. Hundreds of homes have burned in the northern and eastern areas of Altadena which sits next to the San Gabriel Mountains north of Pasadena. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
For many years, officials argued it was less expensive to pay overtime to current staffers than to hire new ones. That’s because public safety pensions are very expensive.
“There’s a point of diminishing returns with that,” said an erstwhile fire chief who doesn’t want to be identified.
New hires today get a less-expensive, though still generous, retirement package, thanks to reforms pushed through by then-Gov. Jerry Brown more than a decade ago. But overtime is still tremendous in Los Angeles, with some firefighters making mini-fortunes.
One could argue that hundreds more firefighters could be on the force in L.A. today if only decision-makers had made different choices.
Rohan Ali, a videographer for the Lakers, found his family’s house in Altadena reduced to smoldering rubble when he returned to see it for the first time since the Eaton Fire roared through early Wednesday morning. (Photo courtesy of Rohan Ali)
One firefighter, half-million in OT
First, some definitions to avoid confusion. “Total wages” is the money that lands in a firefighter’s bank account. It includes regular pay, overtime pay, lump sum pay and “other” pay, for special skills and whatnot.
“Total compensation” includes those wages — plus all the other costs of actually employing workers. That’s what the city/county pays for pension contributions, health benefits, deferred compensation (which the worker will get at a later date) as well as wages.
We’ll be referring to both in this story. Let’s start with wages — and how big a role overtime plays in L.A.
Nearly one of every three dollars spent on fire department wages by Los Angeles County paid for overtime in 2023, according to data from the state controller. That’s $247.3 million in overtime bills, out of total wages of $792.8 million.
It was nearly identical in the city’s fire department. L.A. city spent $239.9 million on overtime, out of total wages of $757.7 million.
At the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, better known as Cal Fire, overtime took a much smaller bite. It accounted for less than one of every five dollars spent on wages, or $223.5 million out of total wages of almost $1.2 billion.
At Cal Fire, only two — count ’em, two! — workers made overtime in excess of $200,000.
In the city’s Los Angeles Fire Department, more than 50 times as many workers —101 — made more than $200,000 in overtime. City fire’s top overtime earner banked $485,357 in overtime alone, earning him total wages of $719,931 for the year. (That doesn’t include the value of his benefits; all told, his total compensation was $796,977.)
In the county fire department, 77 workers made more than $200,000 in overtime. The county’s top overtime earner banked $332,937 in overtime alone, earning him total wages of $544,219 for the year. (With benefits, his total comp was $627,447.)
To some former firefighters, it’s not a good look.
Two people walk along a road in a fire-ravaged community in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher)
“We pushed for an overtime cap,” said one former firefighter who also didn’t want to be named. “We didn’t want 1 to 2% making an ungodly amount of money — it makes others look bad, and it’s not good for them. They’re always on duty. They don’t have quality of life. They die young.”
Generous pay isn’t only a function of overtime, however.
Los Angeles County firefighters put out a hot spot along the 100 block of Altadena Dr. during the Eaton Fire in Altadena on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)
Los Angeles County Fire
Of the more than 4,400 pensioned personnel in the Los Angeles County Fire Department, 1,724 – nearly 40% – had total compensation of $250,000 or more, according to 2023 data from the state controller.
That includes 1,071 in excess of $300,000; and 314 in excess of $400,000; and 53 in excess of $500,000; and four in excess of $600,000.
That translates to 40% of workers accounting for 57.4% of LA County Fire’s payroll costs.
Los Angeles Fire Department
Of the 4,740 pensioned positions in the city-run Los Angeles Fire Department, 1,614 — 34% — earned total comp of more than $250,000.
That includes 855 in excess of $300,000; and 190 in excess of $400,000; and 30 in excess of $500,000; and three in excess of $600,000; and one in excess of $700,000 (almost hitting $800,000).
It translates to about one-third of workers accounting for 55% of LAFD’s payroll costs.
Cal Fire
The state department is more thrifty. Of the 12,738 pensioned positions, a far smaller fraction of the total — 1,582, or about 12.4% — had total comp of more than $250,000.
A Cal Fire aircraft drops fire retardant on a vegetation fire in San Diego (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
That includes 463 in excess of $300,000; and 35 in excess of 400,000; and three in excess of $500,000; and one in excess of $700,000.
It translates to 12.4% of employees accounting for 26.1% of Cal Fire’s payroll costs.
A spokesman for Cal Fire said it’s not typical to have employees with successive annual earnings exceeding $250,000. The data shows that its highest earners did, indeed, receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in “lump sum” payments, often from years of unused leave time that’s cashed out when they retire.
We will mention here that hundreds of firefighters from California’s prisons are fighting alongside these highly paid professionals for far less than minimum wage. Firefighters from other states and nations are here, too, presumably making far less than L.A.’s own as well.
“That’s one thing you never do out on the line — talk about how much you make with firefighters from other places,” the erstwhile chief said.
We’ve asked officials for pay data for the other firefighters joining the battle; we’ll let you know when we get it.
Other notable bits
Cal Fire and Los Angeles City didn’t pay the worker’s share of retirement costs in 2023. L.A. County, however, did, covering not just its own required contributions as employer, but the contributions for almost 2,000 workers as well. That cost $9.65 million.
The remains of beachside homes that burned along Pacific Coast Highway during the Palisades Fire in Malibu, CA, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Cal Fire and Los Angeles City didn’t have deferred comp for fire workers. L.A. County had it for thousands of fire department workers, costing $19.78 million.
Cal Fire’s most expensive health plan for a single worker cost $66,100. L.A. County’s was $44,699. LAFD’s was $22,654.
Of course, we asked officials to weigh in on all this. They’re a bit busy, but a Cal Fire spokesman told us this in a statement:
“It is important to note that CAL FIRE has received significant support from the Administration over the last several years related to increases in staffing. Most recently the 2024/2025 enacted California budget provides for a transition of workweek from 72 to 66 hours in consideration of reducing overtime burnout, and provides the department with an additional 2,457 positions over a five-year period: 2,084 of these positions being direct fire protection classifications bolstering depth of staffing for aircraft, fire engines, fire crews, bull dozers, and fire line supervision. The remaining positions are needed to support the increased staffing. CAL FIRE continuously assesses opportunities to increase staffing as demand increases.”
Meantime, these questions remain, despite our years of reporting on this stuff:
Why must firefighters work 56-hour shifts when other essential workers (like police and nurses) work 12-hour shifts?
El Capitán de Bomberos de la Ciudad de Santa Bárbara, Aaron Vaughn, busca víctimas en una casa quemada por el incendio Eaton en Altadena el lunes 13 de enero de 2025. (Foto de Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Why must we fill slots mandated by “minimum staffing” with trained firefighters, when the vast majority of calls are for medical emergencies?
Why do fully staffed fire trucks respond to medical emergencies alongside ambulances? Do heart attack victims spontaneously combust?
We’re still searching for answers that make sense.
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