Church Hill Bma Changes Firefighter Pay Situation At Mayor's Request

CHURCH HILL — Church Hill's fire department is comprised mostly by city employees who are on call to answer fire calls, even when they are home on vacation. Mayor Dennis Deal told the Board of Mayor and Aldermen during Tuesday's meeting, however, that he recently became aware of a firefighter pay issue that he believed was unfair. Ordinarily, firefighters are paid time and a half for responding to fire calls. But if they don't work 40 hours in a week, such as when they're off taking vacation time or if they had taken a sick day or personal time earlier that week, that time and a half benefit didn't kick in. "What I recommend is, no matter what you work in a week, if you come to a fire call you get overtime," Deal told the board.