Duluth asked to approve additional $375K in firefighter OT

The Duluth City Council will be asked to approve an additional $375,000 in overtime pay for the city's firefighters Monday evening.

Staffing challenges in the department have been particularly acute this year, according to Duluth Fire Chief Dennis Edwards, who attributed much of the situation to one primary factor.

"Mostly it's the ongoing military leave. We have a number of people who are in the Guards, and that puts stress on our overtime budget," Edwards said.

It's no surprise to Edwards that people with military backgrounds frequently land civilian work as firefighters.

"We see a lot of military people as job candidates, and they're good candidates. They're well-trained and very good employees, because they understand the chain of command and how we do things here," he said.

David Montgomery, Duluth's chief administrative officer, also pointed to military deployments as a cost driver for the fire department in 2017.

"A lot of our folks serve in the various Guard and Reserve units, which is a great thing. But it tends to really highlight the need to work something out with the state where municipalities are incurring these kinds of costs in support of our Guard efforts. We think there should be much more of a shared cost burden, because it's really in support of the state Guard service, and it's difficult," he said.

As fire halls need to be fully manned around the clock, Montgomery said overtime is a structural necessity, especially when the department is short-staffed.

"With the way we do fire staffing, you have to cover that position. In a lot of other areas, such as engineering or utility operations, we've got more flexibility in how we shift the workload around," he said.

Today, the fire department's roster includes 16 active National Guard members, compared to six people 10 years ago, Edwards noted. What's more, Guard units have played an increasing role in the nation's military actions.

Montgomery said the overtime challenge Duluth's fire department faces is not unique to the city. Other communities struggle with it as well, and there is an ongoing effort to convince state and federal lawmakers to provide some financial relief.

While the issue has been discussed in legislative circles, Montgomery said it has yet to gain much political traction.

Faced with this ongoing situation, Edwards said the city may need to begin building more overtime into the fire department's budget. The city had budgeted for just under $668,000 in firefighter overtime this year but is expected to blow past that mark.

Montgomery said other factors have given rise to overtime in the department, as well.

"We've also had a number of longer-term illness/almost bordering on disability situations this year. It's just been one of those tough years where we've lost a bunch of people for periods of time," he said.

Edwards said that injuries unfortunately are a fact of life for firefighters.

"Every year, the number of our responses goes up and up. So that puts stress on our firefighters, and let's face it, this is a tough job, when you're carrying 100 pounds of gear and you're crawling through complete blackouts in smoke, and you're swinging axes and dragging hoses. As safe as we try to make it and as much as we work on wellness and biomechanics and everything else, it's still a dangerous job, and people get hurt," he said.

Edwards noted that firefighters are often called to action at a moment's notice with little opportunity to limber up.

"When the bell rings, it's go-time," he said, observing that the very pace of the job can lead to inadvertent injuries, as well.

Nevertheless, Montgomery said local firefighters have risen to the occasion.

"Our firefighters have done a really terrific job in filling the holes and gaps," he said. "I can't say there have been no situations where we were scrambling to cover a shift, but by and large we've been able to cover the shifts. People really have stepped up well."