State faces forest ranger shortage

"There's just countless amounts of people - experienced firefighters - who are no longer with (the state)," said Harden, who was making $28,000 when he left and now brings home at least $50,000 a year. "I left a lot of good friends. It's just a shame.

" At a time when Florida is facing severe dry weather that firefighters fear could lead to the worst fire season in a decade, the state is short 34 forest rangers. They serve as the front line against wildfires such as the one that's ravaging Georgia. Union leaders say the Florida Division of Forestry's poor pay is leading rangers to seek jobs elsewhere, leaving holes to be filled and inexperienced hires in dangerous situations.

In counties such as Franklin, where property is too expensive, the state is resorting to housing firefighters in FEMA trailers. In the waning days of the legislative session, the union is fighting for a $5,000 pay raise for firefighters who have completed a certain level of training. "Our main issue is the low pay," said Philip Czechorowski, the president of Florida State Fire Service Association IAFF Local S-20.

"But the turnover rate also makes it a safety issue." State officials say that replacements have been found for eight of the 34 vacancies, and that forest rangers got 5-percent pay raises - on top of the across-the-board 3-percent raises for all state employees - in 2004 and 2006. Now the priority is new tractors with enclosed cabs to keep drivers safe.

"We are seeking $6 million this year in firefighting equipment," said Terence McElroy, a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which is over the forestry division. "That doesn't mean turnover isn't a problem, because it is."

They leave for more perks

Between October 2005 and March 2007, 176 of the state's 507 forest rangers left their jobs.

Most departures - 137 - were retirements, promotions, terminations or reassignments, according to Division of Forestry Director Mike Long. "The turnover rate is an issue," Long said, "but I don't think all the change that we have is due to salary." But many of the 39 rangers who left for other reasons were driven by the state's uncompetitive salaries when compared with the U.

S. Forest Service and with some municipal fire departments. That comes at a price for the state, because it costs more than $80,000 to train rangers.

"We train them; they take them," said Bryan Johnson, the forestry operations administrator at the Tallahassee Forestry Center. The Tallahassee center covers six counties. Its manager, Ken Weber, said most vacancies were in South Florida, where municipal fire departments pay higher salaries than rural counties.

In the Tallahassee area, he said, the biggest competition is the U.S. Forest Service, whose employees work federal forest lands.

Weber said the federal service has more opportunities for promotions and raises; includes hazard pay in firefighters' salaries (state employees get theirs when they retire); and regularly pays overtime. State employees don't have such perks; they are typically forced to take time off after working their regular hours, according to Weber and Harden. As a result, the forestry division recently had to bring in three trailers to Franklin County because some firefighters could not afford to live in the coastal community, where property prices have been rising (forest rangers are required to live within 20 miles of the headquarters to which they're assigned).

"We'd rather see pay raises so people can do this as a living," Weber said, "rather than something they've always wanted to do but can't afford to and have to live in a FEMA trailer for the rest of their lives."

Safety's at stake, too

Safety is also affected because new hires don't have the training or the experience with fuels and weather conditions. Firefighters are hired before they're trained.

It takes about 18 months for them to complete their required training and be judged competent to fight fires, Johnson said. State officials also say safety is their prime concern, which explains the department's push to phase out the division's 130 open-cab tractors. Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson has asked for 25 closed-cab replacements this year, at $125,000 each.

The closed-cab tractors protect their drivers, Johnson said, although some firefighters say they provide a false sense of security because drivers have a harder time telling how close they are to a fire. Last year, a Tallahassee area forest ranger burned her hands after falling out of a cab after fire overtook it. "We don't want people exposed to these flames," McElroy said.

"That is the commissioner's absolute top priority." Florida Division of Forestry: $24,579 U.S.