CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Amid months of complaints about firefighter salaries – with starting rates at $44,000 – the Clarksville Public Safety Committee has approved recommending a pay study to find out how local salaries compare to similar and nearby communities. Firefighters are hoping the study results in a step pay plan to mirror competing public safety agencies in Tennessee.
The concept was previously discussed at a Clarksville Fire Fighters Association (IAFF Local 3180) rally that had called on the City Council to raise the starting salary for firefighters ahead of finalizing the 2025-26 fiscal year budget. While firefighters, along with all other city employees, did receive a 2.5% wage increase in the new fiscal year budget, Jesse Snyder, president of 3180 Clarksville Fire Fighters Association, said it is still not enough for some firefighters to survive.
‘It seems like we’re kicking the can down the road’
Synder said the pay study isn’t ideally what firefighters wanted, due to a recent pay study actually taking place within the last couple of years. “There have already been pay studies done. We’re actually in the middle of a pay range right now that has room to move in it, but the council, the mayor and the chief aren’t willing to do anything within that range at this point,” he said. “It’s really frustrating because it seems like we’re kicking the can down the road.
“We’re out there supporting everybody every day. We try to do everything we can do to keep the community safe. The guys aren’t asking to get rich, they know that being a firefighter or public servant is not going to make them rich, but they want to be on a comparable rate with the other departments around us. We’ve lost several guys to different departments, and some have left because they cannot afford to live off what they are making,” Snyder said.
‘Our men and women are struggling at the lower ranks’
Snyder said it’s been suggested that firefighters take second jobs to make ends meet. “We’ve been told that we have 48 hours off to make up for money if we wanted to do that.”
But he believes people don’t realize the impact the job has on each and every firefighter.
“There’s a lot of things that you have to do to prepare yourself mentally. You get off work after working a 24-hour shift, then you’re wore out, and then you’re expected to go to another job. Then, the next day you’re expected to go to another job then you’re back on shift. You really don’t have time to rest or recuperate. Honestly, it’s kind of sad that Clarksville is growing as fast as it is … you look around and see all the progress in the city and all the progress in the fire department … but our men and women are struggling at the lower ranks, and we can’t keep them above water financially. That really doesn’t really make sense.”
Councilperson Jimmy Brown, who serves on the Public Safety Committee, told Clarksville Now the next step is for the resolution for a study to go through the Finance Committee, before moving to the City Council as early as September.
Synder said that if the study is approved, he expects the city won’t receive the results before March 2026. He fears that Clarksville Fire Rescue will continue to see firefighters at the lower ranks leave for other departments in the area, or leaving the occupation altogether.
“We have people who have applications all over the place right now,” he said. “We’re going to lose a lot of people who we spent all kinds of money on to train, and we’ve invested time and everything into, just to start all over again. The morale is super low because of it. We don’t really know what to ask for anymore, because we’ve given examples of different pay ranges around our area, and we’re being told a lot of things don’t compare.
As an example, he said one city may require an EMT certification that Clarksville firefighters don’t have. “Then, you look at it also, we may not require a certification, but we are still doing the same job. Even on a medical call, we’re doing the same job, while working up to our scope of duty. … We may not possess the same certifications at this point, but everybody’s working toward getting those.”
Firefighters needing government assistance
As a representation of some of the struggles that come with the current starting salary at Clarksville Fire Rescue, Synder said some of the firefighters at the department have kids, and they were barely getting by with government assistance.
“They have multiple kids, they didn’t pay for their wife to work because daycare’s gotten so expensive, and the kids are before school age. They’re working, and they were getting government assistance … Then, the 2.5% increase, the only thing it really did for them was put them up just over the amount they could make to qualify for government assistance. So, they got a $100/month raise with 2.5%, but they lost $500/month in assistance.”
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