At a city council budget work session this week, Raleigh’s fire chief, Herbert Griffin, told council members that since he started the job four years ago, five firefighters under his command have died. He was speaking to the realities of a profession that is unusually difficult and often dangerous.
“Firefighters have a 22 percent increased chance of catching cancer and dying at an early age,” Griffin told the council. “The expected lifespan for a firefighter 10 years ago is 59.2 years. That’s facts. I wrote a white paper on it.”
As budget season gets underway once again, the council, once again, is considering whether to approve a separation allowance for the city’s firefighters, a type of temporary retirement benefit that Raleigh firefighters have been advocating for for years. On Monday, the council heard from a consultant on the results of a citywide salary study which included an evaluation of the cost to extend the separation allowance to firefighters, emergency communications staff, and some others.
Under the separation allowance, firefighters would be eligible to retire after 30 years of service while the city continues to pay them a percentage of their final salary. If they are still working at age 60 with 25 years of service to the city, they could also receive the separation allowance. The benefit is paid out until age 62, when the employee is eligible to start collecting social security benefits.
State law requires municipalities to pay law enforcement officers a separation allowance and Raleigh police officers have had the benefit in place since 1987.
Herbert told the council the separation allowance would “absolutely” incentivize Raleigh firefighters to stay with the city, which has had trouble recruiting and retaining firefighters.
“It’s a measure, an incentive as far as recruiting and retention,” he said.
Currently, Raleigh’s fire department of 632 total employees has 45 vacancies, according to a city spokesperson, with 47 recruits currently in the Fire Academy. On its website, the Raleigh Professional Firefighters Association says two firefighters quit the city’s force each month on average, and it expects 60 vacancies in the department by fall.
The Fire Academy has an attrition rate of about 12 percent, Herbert told the council, due to outside factors and the inability of some recruits to pass the EMT exam.
Generally, the City of Raleigh’s base pay ranges are below the market average across the board, according to the consultants who performed the compensation study. City workers make about 86 percent of the market average at the minimum pay ranges and about 93 percent at the maximum pay ranges.
The council could consider pay increases from between 1 percent, at a cost of $3.75 million in the next fiscal year, to 15 percent, at a cost of $56.25 million. City staff will bring its recommendations on salary increases to the council as part of the budget proposal this spring.
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Follow Raleigh Editor Jane Porter on X or send an email to jporter@indyweek.com.