The Fulton Fire Department has lost five out of its 22 employees - 25 percent of the department - so far in 2015. In October, the department will lose a fire engineer who recently received a job offer from the Columbia Fire Department.
"It's a huge public safety issue," Todd Gray, vice president of the Fulton Professional Firefighters Union Local 2945, said during a recent interview with the Fulton Sun regarding the department's turnover rate. "The city needs to understand the department is hemorrhaging and we are bleeding out bad. It should be a huge issue to the city council."
Previous Fulton firefighters feel the hemorrhaging, too, and have voiced their opinions on why they left the Fulton fire department.
Jake Dill has been a firefighter at the Sunrise Beach Fire Department for three years and makes more than he did during his time in Fulton. He currently makes $12.95 an hour com- pared to $9.88 - his final pay when he voluntarily quit after being in Fulton from July 2009 - 12. Dill said he started his career in Fulton "to just get his foot in the door."
Russell Craighead began his career as a Fulton firefighter in 1976 at age 18 and started off earning less than $2 an hour. He said the relationship between the city and the fire union has been problematic since he was on duty and has stayed the same since he retired in 2009.
"I was there for 32 years," Russell Craighead said. "It seemed like every time we tried some- thing, they (the city) turned us down."
Craighead made $15 an hour the year he retired, which he said is "kind of a slap in the face after 32 years."
"I just loved that place - I grew up there," Craighead said. "I loved it until the city always wanted to mess with ya, and I finally got tired of fighting knowing I was gonna lose the battle."
Former Fulton firefighter Kenny Holland has a business degree and was aiming for a position as fire captain during his firefighting career, but left the department in 2013 after 12 years of service, mainly because of low pay.
Holland attended a prestigious fire academy before joining the Fulton Fire Department, and was vice president of the Fulton Professional Firefighters Union during his Fulton career.
"When I was vice president of this union, he (Bill Johnson) told us he couldn't do for one element of the city that he couldn't do for the other, so he couldn't give us special treatment or he'd have to do it for the whole city. But this time he's done it in exact reverse."
Craighead and Holland both agree that the city has indicated that it's anti-union, especially Director of Administration Bill Johnson.
Firefighter Joey Mirth left his full-time position with the department in May after 1.5 years of service.
"Working full time at the fire department and paying my insurance for my family, I was bringing home $485 every two weeks," Mirth said. "That doesn't buy food...My rent was $700 a month, so I was left over with 200-something a month had I not taken other jobs."
Mirth said with a family of four, he qualified for food stamps for the first six months, adding that he was also working for three ambulance services and a hardware store to ensure he could pay his bills every month.
Mirth established a successful marketing business outside of the fire service. When he started his business, he told his wife he'd never leave the fire service regardless of low pay, but that soon changed.
Over time, Mirth became increasingly stressed and frustrated about internal department affairs and the city administrative department's mentality toward his job and the sacrifices that the profession entails. Mirth said he contemplated submitting his resignation but then retracted it.
"I thought, I can't leave these guys," Mirth said. "They're my family; they really care about me. It was really, really hard."
A month later, he said, things continued to spiral downward, and he decided to remain with the department as a volunteer. Mirth volunteered with the department for about two months.
"I think that's how the city gets away with paying so low," Mirth said. "When you step into the fire service as a volunteer and you get the chance to ride on the truck as a paid individual, that's where the city gets you. They know you're passionate about the job; they know you love the job; they know that it's hard to get a job like that and they capitalize on the fact that these people have a passion for what they do, and they use that against them."
Mirth added that personal issues with Chief Dean Buffington not standing up for the department during negotiations, coupled with his fear that he would not trust his chief to look after his family if he died in the line of duty, drove him away from the department.
When Mirth talked conversation with Buffington after the council's Aug. 11 decision to vote down the union's updated contract, he confronted his chief and asked him why he didn't speak in favor of the fire department. Mirth said Buffington told him, "I am not sacrificing a 30 year career for these guys. I am an at will employee and Mr. Johnson will fire me for giving him opposition to their decisions, and nobody is going to step in to save my job like the union would one of you guys."
Dill, Craighead and Holland agree that the chief has never stepped up to support his firefighters.
"Most fire chiefs back up their men," Craighead said. "He never has."
Mirth's confrontation with his former chief, along with Buffington not speaking up about the department's equipment needs, Mirth said, led to him turning in his equipment.
"My morale was beaten down," Mirth added.
Mirth said during his time as a full-time firefighter, he jumped up four to five spots up on the department's seniority list in just 18 months.
"The city is kind of stroking their own ego - other guys have wanted to come back, and that's absolutely correct," Mirth said. "Well, it's not for the city. It's for the family - they've got a family in that firehouse. It's for the community; It's got nothing to do with what the city pays or how the city treats their guys."
For Mirth and the others who've left, it's about the bond formed with firefighters they've worked with - their brotherhood. Mirth said that special bond will disappear if the fire department remains a training ground instead of a competitive career ground for firefighters and a place to retire.
"The city should want leaders and guys who want to stay and build trust in the community and get to know people," Mirth said. "Our guys will beat out anyone else, so why jeopardize losing them?"
Ultimately, Mirth is concerned that the city is making decisions without considering the safety of the citizens.
"The more guys who cycle in here, more bad things could happen. Not retaining exemplary firefighters is not doing the citizens any good. The department needs to be competitive at some point."
Mirth is now a volunteer firefighter with Central Callaway Fire District 1, and like the several others who left, continues to advocate fair wages for his firefighter family.