YFD News In Depth

Firehouse magazine survey: Part 2 results are in!

In the July 2001 issue of Firehouse magazine, a fire service related publication, they published the results of a survey the magazine conducted regarding various aspects of paid/career departments throughout the United States and Canada. Youngstown was one of the 294 departments that was highlighted in the survey. Part 1, published in the June issue highlighted overall runs for the year 2000, while Part 2, published in July issue, was much more extensive. Highlighted include each department's busiest station, engine, ladder, rescue, battalion chief, as well as pay scale and staffing. The survey revealed that Engine 2 was Youngstown's busiest engine company, running 820 calls in 2000. No station in the city ran more calls than Station 2 according to the survey. The station, with Engine 2, Ladder 24, and Battalion Chief 2, ran a combined 1,559 calls for 2000. Every piece at Station 1 was mentioned, as Ladder 22 was Youngstown's busiest ladder, running 295 calls, making it 235 on the list of 256 ladder companies in the survey. Battalion Chief 1 was the YFD's busiest battalion chief, running 498 calls. Squad 33,Youngstown's only squad/rescue unit, ran 625 calls, placing it in the 98 spot of the 147 rescue companies in the survey.

Also surveyed were pay scale and truck staffing. Youngstown's starting pay for firefighters is $22,500, placing it 261st on the list of 279 who responded to the question. Top pay is $39,300. Youngstown works a 51.4 hour work week, using a 1 day on/2 days off system. According to the report, both Youngstown's engines and ladders respond with 3 firefighters, although I know that the busier companies, such as Engine 7 and Ladder 22, are responding with 4 and 5 firefighters. By Joe Lowry, some information taken from Firehouse magazine, July 2001, pages 72-100, story posted 7.14.2001.