Firefighters, says Menlo Park Fire Protection District Chief Harold Schapelhouman, deserve to be well paid.
"We see the best and the worst circumstances that happen to people," said the chief, a former firefighter.
When kids come in to tour a fire station, "those are great days," he said.
On other days, though, firefighters must respond to situations such as the one in February 2105, when a woman was killed when her car was hit by a train.
"The firefighters are the ones who have to extricate those victims," Chief Schapelhouman said. "It's a huge responsibility."
"We get paid to do the dirty work," he said.
Firefighters have a risky job, the chief said, even when what they are doing isn't responding to a fire. Firefighters get called when a car goes into a ditch, when a tree falls or, even, when a cat is stuck in a tree.