Low Salaries Leave Miss. Towns Short of Firefighting Personnel

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Some fire departments in south Mississippi are struggling to fill vacancies as firefighters leave for better paying jobs.

Officials in Petal, Miss., are trying to recruit qualified people to work in the physically demanding and dangerous profession with a starting salary of $20,700 a year. The annual pay increases to $23,700 after a year with the department and graduating from the Mississippi State Fire Academy.

Three firefighters who resigned this month said they were leaving because of the low pay, said Petal Fire Chief Richard Bryant.

Bryant said the salaries also make it hard to attract future firefighters even after a 2.7 percent raise this year. Recent departures dropped the department’s ranks to 24, 12 short of the 36 positions for which funds are allotted.

“If I could, I would give the fire department the raises they deserve because they put their lives on the line. But right now the city budget is tight,” said Petal Alderwoman Kay Fairley. “The money is not there. Maybe in the future, but right now it’s not.”

Bryant said the pay scale does not compete with salaries in other cities or private industries. “I’ve seen where a fireman can make up to $50,000 a year sometimes in those high industry areas,” he said. “But here, most firefighters need two jobs to make ends meet.”

The pay is slightly more in Hattiesburg, but officials there are dealing with the same problem. Each town is short at least a dozen firefighters, but officials in both towns say they the shortage is not so bad that the departments can’t get the job done. The Hattiesburg department has 13 slots that need to be filled. The department is allotted for 118 personnel.