DANVILLE, Va. (WSET) — Danville's Firefighters Union President Tom Collins is asking city leaders to bump up their starting pay.
"We are looking for council to address the pay, we want the pay to be fixed otherwise we are going to continue to lose people," he said. "I spoke last night to council about losing a guy that was working from Appomattox he would come here from Appomattox."
Collins said the starting pay for new firefighters is a little more than $34,000.
"Danville right now is on the short end of pay by a lot," Collins said. "We are paid $34,085 for a new firefighter."
In comparison, Lynchburg firefighters start out at $47,008. While Salem's firefighters start out around $45,000 and Blacksburg has a volunteer fire department and only two positions are paid. One is a firefighter-inspector position with a starting pay of $44,099 and the other position is a firefighter-code official with a starting pay of $48, 509.
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Collins said he is concerned the low starting pay won't attract future firefighters or keep the ones they have now.
"Guys are looking to leave if this thing is not taken care of quickly," Collins said.
"There are positions throughout the city government that are under the market for average actual pay, so to single out one particular department to make corrections is not a wise move," said Danville's city manager Ken Larking. "Unless there is a compelling reason...
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