Latest Headlines
- Five WaWa Stores In The Works For Escambia County. Here’s The List.
- Scattered Storms Likely Again Today
- Motorcyclist Critical After Jacks Branch Road Crash
- FDOT Plans Traffic Shift Thursday In Century Highway 29 Construction Zone
- Molino Man Charged With Throwing Object, Breaking Windshield Of Passing Car
- North Escambia Athletes Place In USA Volleyball Beach National Championships
- Santa Rosa Sheriff Issues Contractor Fraud Alert After Arrest
- Escambia Man Gets 10 Years On Firearms And Financial Racketeering Charges
- New Name, Same Fish: Largemouth Bass Are Now Florida Bass
- ECUA Considering Water, Sewer And Sanitation Rate Increases
$1,000 Bonus Stipend Approved For Escambia County Volunteer Firefighters
September 6, 2021
Escambia County’s volunteer firefighters will receive a $1,000 stipend payment.
The Escambia County Commission unanimously approved the payment for volunteers who completed 96 hours of training and ran at least 25% of their station’s calls.
Rep. Michelle Salzman said she was contacted and asked why volunteer firefighters did not receive the same $1,000 the state provided about 200,000 first responders, including 35,000 firefighters, under Gov Ron DeSantis’s Florida’s Heroes Initiative as approved by the Florida Legislature.
“We had to draw a line somewhere in the budget, and that was one of the lines where it was drawn,” Salzman said. “And so, unfortunately, a lot of folks missed out on that.”
Salzman went to Escambia County Commissioner Steven Barry with the issue.
The county approved the $1,000 checks to be paid from the $62 million the county received through the American Rescue Plan. Escambia volunteer firefighters that have already received the $1,000 through another job will not receive the volunteer payout.
It is estimated that up to 60 volunteer firefighters in Escambia County will be eligible for the bonus stipend.
Comments
6 Responses to “$1,000 Bonus Stipend Approved For Escambia County Volunteer Firefighters”
Commissioner Robert Bender said beyond the volunteer firefighters, the county should look at bonus pay for other county workers who have worked through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Great news. Well deserved.
awesome.
This should been done as soon as they decided to volunteer ff. I started my career as volunteer ff.
Well it’s about time these men and women are recognized for what they do .
While I’m here let me say Thank You for all that you do to help when we are in need.
Thank You very much .
This is Great news. However I do not agree with the 96 hours of training for them to be eligible for this.. most of these guys have day jobs that doesn’t allow them to meet the 96 hour training requirements (training is normally a set day once a week) many of these guys work shift work, but still manage to run an outstanding amount of calls. If this check is to reward them for risking working around Covid, then the calls is what should count, not training.