Do firefighter's make a decent living?

Question

How much do firefighter get paid?

In Southern California?

Answer 1

Firefighters make a decent living. How much depends on the city where they work. They have good benefits but they work a lot of weekends and holidays.

Answer 2

Here is a group that does pay/salary surveys for California..

http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layouthtmls/CA/swzl_compresult_state_CA_LG12000019.html

Just remember, that a salary is not the end all.. alot of firefighters get overtime built in to their pay, hazard pay, extra duty pay for being an EMT or paramedic or on the hazmat team or such like that. also the educational and health bennies are sometimes real good.

Answer 3

It depends on your definition of decent. Personally, there is not enough money in the free world to pay me to run into a burning building, but starting pay for FDNY - last I knew was in the $40-50K range, and overtime and benefits escalate it signifcantly. (They do get offered decent benefits.)

Now, that said, New York City is the only city in the country - if not the world - where a person can make $100K a year and be considered "poor". Seriously.

Answer 4

Again dpnds where u live and work. I work at a suburb of colmbus OH. I have a family of four and live only on my income. U have to live in ur means cuz one income and family of four dznt go far. We make ruffly $62,000 a year. We dnt get much OT. Most guys have part time jobs on their days off. Most FF's wrk 24hrs on duty and 48 hrs off. We have to b medics as well at my dept. That 24 hrs can b very tuff wen ur taking ur 21st medic Run At 4a.m. with no sleep if u wrk at a bzee dept. U miss lots of bdays and holidays. Its a great job if u can handle evrything that comes with it. U hav to pay ur dues and have thick skin.most depts pay enuff to get by but dnt expect to b goin on nice vacations and eating out unless ur wife has a job. (Or hsbnd). Many weeks I only have $100 left in my acct 5-6 days away from payday. It can b tuff but if u get a good dept on a good shift it's very rewarding. But u see alot of stuff that stays with u. Ppl dnt call wen theyr havin a good day.

Answer 5

In the larger cities they do, but in small towns, they have volunteers who get paid per call, and usually work elsewhere, but their place of employment is required to release them from work when a call comes in. They do still require special training to be able to participate.

Answer 6

They can in the big cities but this is all relative to how much the cost of living is in the city you work in. 50k a year is not the same in New York city as it is in Milwaukee

Answer 7

in canada they make a good dollar but not equal to what they do?

Answer 8

yes

Answer 9

fire fighters are studs, they get decent pay, but not enough for what they are expected to do.

Answer 10

Not bad!