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In many states that I’ve lived in, towns have volunteer fire departments, where true hero’s experience all of these things for zero pay. The Warwick firefighters do an admirable job but it is a chosen profession which they are well paid for. Nurses experience much of the same with much less.

That said, there are many questions tax payers like my parents can’t understand. How does such a small department have a $4M overtime budget? Frankly, the city could privatize the ambulance services in a heartbeat and save significant dollars. My town did that, kept the fire fighters as volunteers. No service issues in 2 years.

Hs anyone analyzed the cost of change? Such as 5 - 8 hour days vs. few days with long shifts? My guess is there is money to be had there but that would cut into side businesses....one can see both sides of this situation but what seems to be lacking is leadership in Warwick and a true dialogue of the change needed to escape the crushing burden of city pensions. Good luck.