
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Everyone says they appreciate our firefighters and other first responders. But when you find out just how little we pay the people who put their lives on the line to protect our homes and businesses — and accept a lifespan that is, on average, ten years shorter than what the rest of us can expect to enjoy — it becomes pretty clear that maybe we don’t actually appreciate them as much as we should. Is thirty thousand dollars a year really the best we can offer?
I asked, Virginia Purdy, who trains paramedics at Blue Ridge Community College and volunteers for more than one of Polk County’s fire departments.
Resources
Change.org petition:
https://www.change.org/p/support-better-pay-and-staffing-for-polk-county-fire-departments
Firefighter lifespan:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-firefighters-life-saving-work-puts-them-at-a-higher-risk-of-cancer
By James Hrynyshyn4.5
1616 ratings
Everyone says they appreciate our firefighters and other first responders. But when you find out just how little we pay the people who put their lives on the line to protect our homes and businesses — and accept a lifespan that is, on average, ten years shorter than what the rest of us can expect to enjoy — it becomes pretty clear that maybe we don’t actually appreciate them as much as we should. Is thirty thousand dollars a year really the best we can offer?
I asked, Virginia Purdy, who trains paramedics at Blue Ridge Community College and volunteers for more than one of Polk County’s fire departments.
Resources
Change.org petition:
https://www.change.org/p/support-better-pay-and-staffing-for-polk-county-fire-departments
Firefighter lifespan:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-firefighters-life-saving-work-puts-them-at-a-higher-risk-of-cancer

38,491 Listeners

27,154 Listeners

25,827 Listeners

37,181 Listeners

8,495 Listeners

562 Listeners

87,705 Listeners

112,752 Listeners

59,278 Listeners

5,447 Listeners

16,119 Listeners

1,380 Listeners

10,274 Listeners