From Eagle Hose & Hook & Ladder Co. #6 Facebook page.
ANSONIA – The Ansonia Board of Aldermen voted March 12 to give volunteer firefighters on storm duty a $10 pay raise, after learning that the current rate is below Connecticut minimum wage.
Volunteer firefighters in Ansonia aren’t paid for most duties. But for fire watch duty – which involves monitoring specific buildings – and storm duty, they are.
The Aldermen adopted a resolution that increases volunteer firefighter storm duty pay from $15 an hour to $25 an hour. The new rate is the same as firefighters currently get when assigned to fire watch.
Connecticut’s minimum wage is $15.69 per hour.
Both fire commission members and Aldermen said that the old storm duty wage was an oversight. After a winter storm on Feb. 13 mobilized firefighters across town, members of the commission learned that firefighters’ storm duty pay had not been increased in several years.
“My understanding, it was miscommunicated to those who signed up for storm duty that they would be getting 25 dollars an hour,” commissioner Joe Jeannette said to the Fire Commission at a meeting on Feb. 28 (Jeanette is also an Alderman).
The pay raise applies retroactively through July 1 of last year – so firefighters who worked through the winter storm will be paid according to the new rate. The last time the issue of storm duty pay came up was during Hurricane Ida in 2021, according to comments during the fire commission meeting.
Josh Shuart, who is both a Commissioner and an Alderman, wrote a letter to the Board of Aldermen requesting the pay adjustment. The motion was passed unanimously.
