Why do Fresno firefighters rank so high in city overtime pay? Here’s what we know
Firefighters rank highest among Fresno city employees raking in overtime hours and pay, and city leaders say they try to strike a balance between OT and hiring more people to reduce spending.
Six of the city’s top 10 highest compensated employees for 2024 were firefighters, and the top 15 overtime-earners were all firefighters, according to information released to The Bee through a public records request.
Seven of those firefighters in the high end of overtime-earners also made more in overtime pay than they did on their base salary, the city’s figures show.
City Manager Georganne White said paying out overtime can in some cases be unavoidable given the nature of the work done by firefighters and police officers.
Under the right circumstances the city can also spend less by paying overtime than the cost of the training, equipment and benefits of new firefighters, she said.
“When you bring a new person in, you’ve got to pay for their equipment, their insurance, all of the expenses, the retirement contributions, like everything — a fully loaded employee,” White said. “As opposed to overtime for somebody who already has those expenses.”
The hourly pay for less experienced crew members can equate to savings. As firefighters rise in rank or experience, that savings decreases until it’s not a savings at all, she said.
Firefighters can also pick up overtime when they are called out of the county to fight wildfires in other parts of the state. Those dollars are reimbursed to the city by the state, officials said.
To staff all the stations across the city, there are 110 firefighters on the clock at any given time, officials said. Covering the sick and vacation time for those firefighters adds to the overtime spending.
Fresno Fire Department has a $133 million budget that includes salaries and benefits for 375 people, including the highest ranking staffers. Of those, 330 are the crew members who cover the stations.
The average firefighter week is 56 hours, according to Fire Chief Billy Alcorn.
Some firefighters are more prone to picking up overtime when they can than others. For example, Capt. John Ross tallied the highest compensation in the city in 2024 with $388,017, and more than half of his pay ($195,352) came from OT hours, the city records show.
Alcorn said Ross worked the equivalent of 101 24-hour shifts in overtime, or 2,418.9 hours of OT, in 2024. Fresno firefighters typically work 10 24-hour shifts per month, Alcorn said, or 120 24-hour shifts a year.
Keeping the overtime spending down can be helped by a relief pool, which is extra firefighters on staff who can cover absences. But that’s not always the best way to spend the budgeted dollars, according to Alcorn.
“I can either have in my regular salary line a really large number because I’ve hired a bunch of extra people, or I can lower that number and just pay overtime when spots become open,” Alcorn said. “Because the problem is in the fire department we don’t ever run with extra bodies.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2025 at 4:31 PM.
