When you see a fire truck, wave

Posted by adn_jomalley

Posted: September 5, 2009 - 8:41 pm

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Bob Hallinen / Anchorage Daily News: Anchorage firefighters Eric Tuott and Wes Acree collect money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association at the corner of Lake Otis Parkway and Tudor Road on Friday afternoon as part of the department's annual "Fill the Boot" campaign

Dinner at Anchorage Fire Department Station 4 last Monday night was spaghetti and garlic bread. I filled my plate and took a seat at a long wooden table in the kitchen crowded with guys in blue T-shirts.

They'd just given me a tour of the newish station on Tudor Road. I'd seen the engine and the truck and the rescue Zodiacs and dive suits and the small rooms where the firefighters sleep during their 24-hour shifts. The joshing around the table quieted down as the news came on a big television.

There's no question things are tense for city firefighters right now. Relations between the fire union and the city's new administration have gone cold. There have been rolling closures of fire stations to save money, something firemen say makes their jobs more dangerous and makes it harder to respond rapidly to fires. And a big hole in the city budget meant layoffs this year in their department. In fact, of all the layoffs in the city, their department took a third. That was bad, but things were also getting personal.

The day before my visit, Dan Fagan, the conservative talk radio host and columnist, had taken aim at public employees, writing a piece that named a few high-level firemen and quoted how much firefighters made, inflating the amounts by including benefit contributions, questioning whether they deserved their pay.

And, in the middle of tense negotiations with the union, Mayor Dan Sullivan decided to put the kibosh on their annual "Fill the Boot" Muscular Dystrophy Association fundraiser, at least as it has operated since it started about 30 years ago. He said it was a safety liability and it's illegal to walk in traffic to collect money, according to city code meant to discourage roadside panhandling. Plus, he said, employees shouldn't be raising money on the job. (He said later in the week that he would introduce a change to city code to keep the muni from being sued in the case of an accident. If that passes the Assembly, the event can continue.)

A story came on the TV about a kid with muscular dystrophy. I watched the expressions go sour on the faces around the table as the firefighters passed a green plastic tub of Parmesan. Silverware scraped plates.

The last three-hour "Fill the Boot" fundraiser was scheduled for Friday. They would stand on a street corner and collect donations from motorists. They hoped to raise more than $100,000, a good chunk of the local Muscular Dystrophy Association chapter's budget. To the firemen, messing with the event was adding insult to injury.

Pretty soon dinner was over and we sat for a while waiting for a call. I asked them about Fagan's article. Firefighters do make good salaries. But, they explained, part of that is because they work more. A work week is 56 hours. That means in a year an average firefighter works about 3,000 hours versus 2,000 or so for regular employees. Firefighters also make overtime, but that's a management decision. The city could hire more firefighters, but that would mean paying more benefits.

I asked them about whether all those extra work hours were hard on families. They cracked up.

"Which ex-wife do you want to ask?" one of them said.

Fagan's article mentioned the salary of Tom Wescott, a fire captain and union president, saying he made $150,000 in 2008. His actual pay, including overtime, was more like $107,000. He estimated he worked 3,200 hours. On average that's about $33 an hour. I'm not sure how Fagan determines what's reasonable pay for a guy who might have to haul him out of a burning building, but I'd pay that.

A light on the ceiling started flashing and I followed Anne Sigsworth, an EMS battalion chief, out to her truck. We screamed down Tudor with lights and sirens to an accident near the airport. Anne handed me a yellow vest and we walked over to the scene. A sedan had sideswiped a small SUV and a woman was being loaded onto a gurney. Cars buzzed by while we stood in the middle of the street. It occurred to me that firefighters walk in traffic for a living. Perhaps it was illegal for them to do it for a fundraiser, but it seemed like a technicality.

After the accident, we stopped into the Huffman Road station, where I ran into a friend of mine from high school who works there. I asked him if he thought the public's attitude had changed toward the fire department with all the tension between the union and the city.

"I look around and I feel like people are giving us dirty looks," he told me.

"But they're still waving with all their fingers," said one of the other guys sitting around the table.

A couple days later, I called Sullivan. I hadn't talked to him before. My first impression: straightforward guy with an affection for numbers. He had to deal with a serious budget problem, he said.

Part of that was outgoing Mayor Mark Begich's fault for pushing expensive labor contracts, a huge portion of the budget, the city really couldn't afford, he said. Part of that was the Assembly's fault for passing them without asking enough questions. And part of it was the fact that the economy had tanked, he told me.

"We have a structural imbalance; every department is going to have participate."

I could see that. The layoffs were unfortunate, but it's just a reality right now. My office has been about cut in half. I asked him if he thought firefighters were paid too much.

"Working for the city used to be public service. Now it's become jobs that not only are comparable but in some cases exceed the private sector, particularly in the benefits end of things," he said.

I wasn't sure exactly what to make of that.

The mayor said he appreciated what firefighters do, but that didn't mean in the next round of negotiations he wasn't going to ask for cuts. He didn't appreciate the union's public complaining.

Then I asked him about "Fill the Boot." He'd been in office a few months, in the middle of negotiations with several unions, with a million issues to worry about. Why get uptight about firefighters walking in traffic?

He said it was principle. It wasn't in line with city code.

I thought about that when I got off the phone. Maybe Sullivan's just a principled guy. I can respect that in a politician. But at a time like this, when firefighters are losing their jobs and people are questioning the value of what they do, it seemed at the very least he could have used a little more of some other political skills I respect: finesse and timing.

Especially if he plans to ask them to give up more of their paychecks for the good of the city.

Curious about city salaries? Find the top 200 in 2008 here.

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