Good Question: How Are Minnesota's Fire Departments Staffed?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The city of Brainerd is considering replacing its five full-time firefighters with a paid on-call staff headed by a full-time chief and deputy chief.
City leaders say it could save $300,000 per year. But the group Minnesota Professional Firefighters says after factoring in training and unemployment, the savings would be far less.
So how are Minnesota's fire departments staffed?
There are 20,000 firefighters in Minnesota, and 90 percent are considered volunteer or on-call.
"Most of them carry a pager and drop whatever they're doing morning, noon and night," said Eden Prairie Fire Chief George Esbensen. His department is staffed with nine full-timers and 95 paid on-call firefighters.
Of the state's 781 fire departments, only 17 have an entire full-time force.
According to the Minnesota State Fire Marshal, those departments are: Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, Duluth, St. Cloud, Moorhead, Burnsville, Richfield, Albert Lea, S. St. Paul/W. St. Paul, Virginia, Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport, Brainerd Lakes Airport, Rochester Airport, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and Camp Ripley.
Another 73 departments are combination of full-time, on-call and volunteer. The remaining 691 departments are entirely on-call or volunteer.
"When you've seen one fire department, you've seen one fire department," Esbensen said. "Local jurisdictions make that decision by themselves. It's sort of what fits. I don't think there's a one size fits all."
On-call firefighters are generally paid a small amount, whether it be per call or per hour. In Eden Prairie, it's $11/hr. After 15-20 years on the job, non-career firefighters are also entitled to a pension, depending in the jurisdiction.
Esbensen says it's exponentially harder to recruit non-career firefighters compared to 20 years ago. It's gotten so difficult that cities like Eagan, Shakopee, Roseville and Brooklyn Park have all added full-time firefighter positions within the past two years.
"It's all very local and just depends on what people's appetite for risk is," he said.
