SAN ANTONIO — Joe Jones was relieved when the San Antonio Professional Fighters Association and the City of San Antonio signed a collective bargaining agreement—the first one in 15 years. Jones, the president of the San Antonio Professional Fighters Association, says this is a healthy start. 

“Because we were able to demonstrate conclusively what a healthy fire union looks like,” Jones said. 

San Antonio firefighters will receive a 20% raise over the course of three years. Jones says this is a stabilizing contract and will prevent team members from leaving to other fire stations across the state. 

He said that during negotiations, 28% of the department’s employees were leaving before they were eligible for pensions.

“You go from melting the wheels, melting the tires because you are taking so many calls, to a slower community, maybe with competitive pay with what you are already making,” Jones said. “But you are only making a few calls a shift.” 

Chief Poyner, the director of the San Antonio College Fire Regional Academy, says smaller departments are competing with San Antonio for talent. 

This year, New Braunfels and Cibolo poured millions of dollars in their fire departments, building new stations and fixing old ones. 

“The county departments, their tax base has ramped up, whether it's commercially or residentially, and with that they have been able to become very competitive with San Antonio Fire as far as the pay rates and benefits go,” Poyner said.  

Jones says San Antonio needs more fire stations as it continuously grows 

Right now, the city has 54 fire stations serving a population of 1.5 million people compared to Austin’s 52 stations, which serves about 900,000 people. 

“The city is taking a hard look… ‘we are behind here.’ We actually have their expert analysis where they recommended ‘you really need build 10 fire stations because of geographical confinement,’” Jones said. 

Conversations for the next contract negotiations.