The City’s Forgotten Protectors
While Everett boasted the best fire record in Washington, its firefighters were the worst-paid in the state and lived nearly as slaves under a grueling 21-hour-a-day duty cycle.
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The failure of the city administration to include a salary increase for the fire chief in their recent proposal highlights the stark conditions facing the department. Everett enjoys the distinction of having the best fire record of any city in Washington, yet it maintains the worst-paid department in the state. Walla Walla, a smaller city, pays its fire chief $150 a month, as does Westminster, B.C., while Everett’s chief earns only $100. The department has seen twenty-two resignations in two years from a force of only sixteen men. Firemen start at $70 a month and work 21 hours a day, permitted to leave only for one hour per meal and remaining on call even during those times. They must purchase their own expensive uniforms, which are often ruined in the line of duty. Fire fighting is a highly technical profession requiring quick, clear-brained decision-making, and these men deserve fair compensation for the risks they take to protect the city's ten square miles of property.
“It is doubtless news to the average citizen that the man in the blue uniform and the silver buttons comes nearer to being a slave than any other employe.”
Today, public safety budgets remain a lightning rod in Everett politics, though the focus has shifted from daily pay to pension stability and modern staffing models. The 1911 struggle for basic fair wages for municipal workers remains a core pillar of local labor advocacy.
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