Members of Juneau’s chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters spoke out again about the lack of competitive wages leading to staffing shortages in Juneau.
Union members say firefighters are working mandatory overtime for pay that a recent study deemed below average. As contract negotiations with the city begin, first responders are asking the city for relief.
Dylan Hay testified at Monday’s Juneau Assembly meeting that after five years of firefighting in Juneau, the low wages have made the heavy workload unsustainable for him and his young family, so he’s moving to take a new job out of state.
“Not only has our call volume stretched us beyond a reasonable capacity, I’ve been on scene of multiple incidents where there was vastly inadequate staffing or volunteer response,” Hay said. “This leaves on-duty crews to shoulder a burden we are simply not adequately staffed to carry. And quite frankly, we are all tired.”
The majority of Juneau’s firefighters and EMTs are union members.
Logan Balstad is the chapter president. He said that none of the responses to the 18 structure fires in Juneau last year met the National Fire Protection Association’s standard for minimum number of staff responding.
“It is clear that our department struggles to assist the community on many small emergencies, let alone any of moderate to severe impact to the public,” he said.
Balstad said there simply aren’t enough firefighters to respond to emergencies. The department has been relying on mandatory overtime to staff response teams.
According to Juneau’s IAFF chapter, Capital City Fire/Rescue is down seven positions, and 20 emergency responders have resigned in the last few years.
And, Balstad said, the staffing issues are likely to get worse — multiple firefighters are planning to retire, resign or take a leave of absence to serve in the military.
But recent attempts to fill those positions haven’t been fruitful.
“In the past couple of years, we have had seven firefighter recruitment cycles where we had at best, one successful applicant,” he said. “In others, 14 job offers have been extended, yet none of [them] were accepted.”
According to a wage study released in December, starting salaries can be as low as $20 an hour for EMT positions in Juneau. Some starting positions are ranked in the 24th percentile for competitiveness in the Pacific Northwest. That means that if a firefighter applied to 100 jobs in the region, three-quarters of them would likely have higher salaries than the Juneau position.
The union and the city will begin contract negotiations this week, which they do every three years. This year, union members like Balstad say they hope it means Juneau will be able to offer salaries that attract more firefighters and keep current ones around.
Rachel Kelly is a family member of a firefighter in Juneau. She says she’s concerned about the long term impacts of the staffing shortages.
“We’re not putting more energy and effort into staffing that service, and so it’s the same people who are just doing more. And at some point that’s going to break,” she said. “To have so many fires back to back, like we have the last few months, and to have the response numbers on those fires be so low, it should be a really obvious red flag.”
And she’s worried this is further burdening responders who shoulder the physical and emotional load of Juneau’s emergencies.
Contract negotiations begin on Friday and will be finalized this summer.
