SALISBURY — Ethan Chirico is the vice president of the Salisbury Professional Firefighters Union, an organization that 80 percent of the entire department belongs to. Chirico and other members of the union have grown frustrated on how Salisbury’s pay structure applies to them.

“Our problem is that the city does not have a scheduled way of moving people through their pay ranges right now,” Chirico said.

Chirico, an engineer within the department, says if someone wanted to stay as a firefighter and not be promoted to an engineer or captain, that it is difficult for them to reach the maximum pay set forth in the city’s guidelines. While promotion is a natural component of any workforce, making sure all jobs are adequately filled is amplified when it pertains to the fire department.

“The idea that the firefighter is a rank that you want to move out of, that breaks the fire department. The fire department needs excellent firefighters and excellent engineers and excellent captains. Every rank needs to be fully filled by competent, efficient people. The idea that you’re good at one job and so that way you should just promote to the next, that kind of breaks us, that breaks our fire department. That breaks any fire department,” Chirico said.

Chirico believes a solution would be for the city to implement “step raises” for the fire department.

“We need them to adjust our pay ranges, not even to move them, they need to show how people can get there,” Chirico said. “We want step raises. We want anybody to be able to look in a non-complicated way, that in year three of my rank I’ll make this much money. In year six of my rank I’ll make this much money.”

City Manager Jim Greene says he and the city of Salisbury do “prioritize” the fire department and their safety and though he admits they do not have a step raise program for any city employees, the department has alternative methods of increasing their pay. Greene cites cost of living adjustments, merit pay and career development opportunities as avenues for firefighters to seek more pay for their work. He also stated that the city’s goal for all of its employees is to get them to the midpoint of their pay ranges and to be more proficient at their jobs.

“While we don’t have a specific step program in the fire department or any department, we have other opportunities to earn pay through a very robust career development program,” Greene said. “I think we’ve been very transparent and engaging on the pay increases that are available.

In Oct. 2022, Salisbury completed a citywide pay study that compared the city of Salisbury employees pay to 10 other regional municipalities. Numerous positions were below the average and 112 city employees received raises, including 55 in the fire department. The firefighter pay ranges were about equal to the average of the other communities, but the study indicates Salisbury does not have a higher paid senior firefighter category as other communities do.

Chirico thinks the study did more harm than good for the firefighters and that there was not enough equity amongst those who obtained raises. 

“The union believes that the pay study is almost hindrance because they increased our base pay for firefighters a good bit, engineer a little bit and an officer by $200 I believe,” Chirico said.

Chirico warns that the lack of adequate pay will lead to staffing shortages within the department. Chirico says that the minimum staffing on fire trucks has decreased from four to three, which coupled with long hours firefighters work during a shift, can cause challenges.

“If you are incentivized or pressured not to take sick leave, that is a blow to public safety if you have firefighters who are overworked and feel like they can’t take off. If you have a mandatory policy that forces a driver to work 48 hours instead of 24 on engine one, you’re likely to wake up five to six times a night between midnight and shift change 8 a.m. It’s not very much sleep,” Chirico said.

Fire Chief Bob Parnell said that he understands the firefighters’ frustrations on wanting to be paid more, but points to the incentives that Salisbury offers as fair in order to get to the maximum pay range.

“I wouldn’t say it was difficult, but it does take time and it takes effort and there are a lot of incentives. I consider it generous in regards to offering incentives for different certifications,” Parnell said.

When asked if having three firefighters working on a truck is enough to do the job well, Parnell stated: “That’s the number our city chooses to staff fire trucks with. There’s some departments that use four, there’s many fire departments that use two, we have three. That’s just a function of our department, our city, our payroll, and our response package.”

Chirico reiterates that the union supports the city and the department; all he wants is what’s best for his colleagues.

“It is not that we think that city council or the city manager are being nefarious, we just think that they are not being up-to-date on the issues that they have presented,” Chirico said.