A newcomer to the Brunswick Fire Department will earn $9.29 per hour to rush into a burning building.
That comes out to $28,370 per year when with their 24 hours on, 48 hours off schedules.
Brunswick Fire Chief Randy Mobley said this bottom line is the primary factor behind the department’s perpetual revolving door, in which firefighters the city hires and trains soon depart to fight fires elsewhere for more money. Mobley said the majority of the 19 firefighters who left the Brunswick Fire Department in the last 12 months left for higher pay.
“I have exit interviews with the firefighters who leave here,” he said. “And I have copies of their resignation letters. And for the majority of them, it is pay — pay and benefits. Mostly pay.”