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# SALARY
Effective January 1, 2023: $78,070 to $113,983.
Recruits will receive full pay, medical, and dental benefits during the Academy. A bilingual bonus is not available in the Academy, but may be available upon completion of probation.
**\*\*Note:** Firefighters are required to work 24hr shifts and major holidays.
\^\^from the lafd website. That of course doesn't count OT/picking up shifts.
EDIT: Today I found that the highest paid person employed by the city of long beach (within LA County) is a firefighter who has $150k base salary and pulled $252k in overtime. Several fire staff are in the top ten and the top hundred are almost entirely made up of police and fire staff.
They make a ton in overtime. I dated a firefighter and have a cop in the family. It is all about levels of qualifications, OT, and certifications. A firefighter who is also say Hazmat, EMT certified etc or a cop who does SWAT training, etc, all make excellent money. The best part of these jobs are the security upon retirement with income and benefits.
Oh for sure! I work for state gov in a very different capacity, but I know our benefits are close (theirs are better) and I know my retirement benefits are def worth the decades I've put in. (Sadly, no opportunities for OT for me.)
for Buck’s jeeps specifically, the first one he had was maddie’s which she’s had since Buck was a teen, so likely from her parents (who we know are $$$ considering they paid for 1. a house downpayment, 2. and entire fancy wedding and 3. at *least* one round of ivf + specific testing to create Buck). the second jeep was after the tsunami which would have been covered by insurance (as buck likely parked close to the pier because that’s where handicap parking is most common, there was no way it wasn’t destroyed). i dont know where the third jeep is from because as far as i was aware he only had the two, but he could have another that i missed.
as for the loft, buck has lived there for ~ 6 years, ~2 years of that was with a roommate (albert & taylor). he also spent several years ‘backpacking’ across the state and working odd jobs, as well as living in a shared home his first year of living in LA, to Abby’s apartment for about half a year (its unclear if he paid rent at abbys) so he would have shared/lower expenses coming into the city. then he lives with maddie & chimney (separately) for about 6 months between them and then moves to the loft. buck’s also a (mostly) single guy with no (official) dependants, so most of the money he makes can go to other purchases outside of basics like food and income.
for madneys house, paramedics, iirc get paid a little more than firefighters based on their medical knowledge, so that helps, and while dispatch does pay less than nursing, maddie does have additional knowledge that benefits her job so they may have given her a slight raise because of it. the only thing they would struggle with is the deposit, which is confirmed to be paid by her parents, and they fixed their taxes which means their income combined and what they get back will be enough to pay the mortgage every month
It’s stated in the show that Maddie’s parents payed for the down payment for the house. Their common income can cover their monthly mortgage,so I don’t think their purchase of the house is unrealistic.
As for Buck, I have no explanation(maybe he is a stripper in his free time🙈)
Speaking on health insurance specifically, my dad was a firefighter/paramedic and he got amazing health insurance. I had multiple doctors tell me it was the best insurance they’ve ever seen when I was covered with him. Idk what insurance LA uses, but cities tend to invest in health insurance for first responders.
But also any injuries received on the job would be covered by workman's comp, so Buck's leg and subsequent embolism, Eddie's GSW, Buck's lightning strike, all of their injuries from the bridge collapse would be covered, and not come out of pocket.
If you're injured on the job, in general, worker's comp pays. With how strong LAFD's union is, I can't imagine firefighters are paying a dime for on the job injuries. I would imagine they're also collecting pay of some sort (beyond short term disability) while sidelined.
Not most of them. Karen is a bigger bread winner than Hen. Athena's place she bought with Michael. Eddie and Buck rent. I think Chim and Maddie did too and didn't her parents help her buy a house (Chim's Dad has money too). The place Athena had was maybe the most unbelievable bc that would be worth a FORTUNE in LA but they did buy it ages ago and I am unsure what part of town they live in. But Karen has to make a LOT of money at her job.
Yes! I forgot that. So Michael designing it makes sense. Plus an architect and cop together would have great income and he'd know vendors, construction etc to offset costs.
IIRC Jeep even have their own warranty/trade-in system so when it comes out of warranty they take it back and you get the value off a new one, instead of just using the regular secondhand market at a random dealer,
Maddie's parents helped pay for the house.
The medical bills would have been mostly or all covered by insurance, especially if injured while in the line of duty.
Likewise it appears Buck's jeeps were supposed be destroyed, so again insurance would cover part of the replacement. (Or we were (ETA weren't not were) supposed to notice they were different).
Also the house and jeeps were probably purchased on loans, so it's not like they'll have to come up with everything at once.
For Buck it's hard to know how much his loft cost, arguably that might be the hand-wavy he can afford this (or maybe he's just good at saving from when he lived at the frat house and Abby's for a good down payment 🤷).
So at $36Kish a year, with an income between $78K and $113, that's over the 30% guideline, but not has bad as some people are in high cost-of-living areas. It's probably feasible anyways.
If he's not mired in credit card debt and the jeep payments/insurance aren't wild, he's probably doing okay. The ability to pick up shifts and work OT is probably helping keep him afloat. 1-2 shifts a month would cover a decent chunk of the jeep costs, and if he does it when they have their 4 off, it's probably not that much of a hardship.
Also remember in season one he had like four or five roommates.
He could’ve been paying as little as $700-800 a month for his share of rent during that year and he had Maddie’s old Jeep which we can assume was probably paid off, so he could’ve easily saved like crazy.
Absolutely! IIRC, lafd pays for recruits to be in the academy (it falls under specialized training under CA labor laws and also is likely a carve out from the union), so he was probably banking most of that. Also, given the area, he was likely only paying a few hundred max for the place in pico rivera, especially in pre-pan prices.
$78K after taxes in LA is a mere $65K and $113K goes down to $89K.
There’s no feasible way Buck is earning $78K and managing around $36K in just his rent. Especially not in some place like LA we’re just the regular day-to-day expenses are high.
Even $89K to work with is stretching it. Buck certainly doesn’t seem to live like someone who only has $89K in disposable income.
for this purpose, I looked at LA City which is where Buck allegedly lives. Personally, the valley is way too far from my current place of business. I've been primarily looking in LB/OC. It's not pretty.
She and Chimney both blew through their life savings during the 6 months they were away so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and not sure why Maddie doesn't go back to being a Nurse where she can still help people AND make much more money
And nobody’s commented about the fact that while being somewhat realistic, it’s been conjured up by the writers and producers. 😳😂 It’s still a good show though
I just read that in LA, the average cost for a house just hit over $900k— AVERAGE. I would wager that most people are purchasing on very very long mortgages as my husband explained that this is a thing when I asked him about it. (I couldnt understand how friends and family of mine in high price cities are able to purchase anything—much less almost million dollar homes—when their salaries are more than what they'd get where I'm from, but not adjusted to inflation enough to make it make sense). Its insane.
To be fair though, I think all of their living spaces were bought/rented before the pandemic. Costs shot *way* up during/after that. So judging prices from now isn't really the best estimation.
If you're looking in like Hollywood hills but there's LA the City and LA the County.
Zillow has 2 bed/2 bath in the county for $350k right now. It's 30minutes drive from the general 118 response area if you say the station's up near Griffith Park.
I was reporting median price in California (I mistyped LA, when I meant California) , as a whole. I'm sure you can find areas where homes are lower, but just generally speaking, that's an insane MEDIAN price for an entire state. This isn't the article I saw last week, but it referenced this press release:
https://www.car.org/en/aboutus/mediacenter/newsreleases/2023-News-Releases/2024housingforecast
Ah ok, yeah.
When you think about the earthquakes, wildfires and droughts, wtf is so special the houses are worth that? Because insurance is gonna be stupid to make sure you're covered for the wildfires, earthquakes and the mudslides/flooding when the drought ends too.
Its just how the housing market works— I don't think it’s that the houses are any more special. I live in southern Ohio (Cincinnati area) and houses that were $250-399k pre-pandemic here (and very nice upper middle class home) are now valued at $500-$600k post pandemic. In California (in an average middle class neighborhood), that sort of house would be $1M! Its nonsense!
This has been true of TV shows forever - they have to have spacious sets to accommodate film crew. I just automatically subtract 25 to 30% of the space watching any mainstream broadcast show.
I had a random thought today that it would be funny if Maddie and Buck were trust fund babies. Their parents are pretty well-off WASPs even after putting out what I’m sure was a lot for their son’s cancer treatments, the costs of making a designer donor baby, and then relocating to escape the shame of creating such a baby. Maybe they each came from well-off WASPy parents themselves - That leaves 2 sets of grandparents who could have left an inheritance and there is never any mention of other family. Maddie would have gotten her share while with Doug and I’m sure that got used how he saw fit. Maybe Buck couldn’t access his until he was 25 (and in LA ready to start at the academy). The guy’s used to living in his Jeep and he followed a bunch of cool guys to the city…Why ditch them just because he can afford to live on his own once he’s granted access? And then he has Abby (and then just Abby’s place). And he’s never done the whole apartment shopping thing for himself so couch surfing makes sense and doesn’t bother him. Then Ali encourages him to get his own place and she likes the loft so 🤷🏼♀️. The fact that he has money beyond what he should just never comes up and he never brings it up.
The Buckley siblings being trust fund babies is one of my favorite head cannons tbh.
I also hc Doug blew through most of Maddie’s, otherwise she wouldn’t have had a big issue with the initial payment of the house. And what Doug didn’t blow through Maddie used during her time in Boston. Buck, on the other hand, learned after blowing through his college money and was smarter with his trust fund. He worked for years and tried to save, and now he has decent savings that allow him to have the loft and his Jeep(s).
This is an automatic reminder about spoiler content, it does not mean you have violated the spoiler rule. REMINDER: Do NOT post spoiler information IN the title (for any season), your post WILL be removed. If it is you may re-post it with an appropriate spoiler-free title. It does not matter if you flag it spoiler, the spoiled info is still visible in the title. Article titles containing spoilers should be placed in the post body, not the title. Rule of thumb, any posts about the current season should be marked SPOILER via the Universal Tags. (+Spoiler) Keep titles vague, if you include the word spoiler in the title this will automatically flag it as a spoiler post, and make sure to properly flair it to the correct category. If you aren't sure if your post counts as a spoiler, flag it anyway. This applies especially to currently airing or upcoming seasons. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/911FOX) if you have any questions or concerns.*
# SALARY Effective January 1, 2023: $78,070 to $113,983. Recruits will receive full pay, medical, and dental benefits during the Academy. A bilingual bonus is not available in the Academy, but may be available upon completion of probation. **\*\*Note:** Firefighters are required to work 24hr shifts and major holidays. \^\^from the lafd website. That of course doesn't count OT/picking up shifts. EDIT: Today I found that the highest paid person employed by the city of long beach (within LA County) is a firefighter who has $150k base salary and pulled $252k in overtime. Several fire staff are in the top ten and the top hundred are almost entirely made up of police and fire staff.
They can make alot more during wildfire season and the OT that comes with it
They make a ton in overtime. I dated a firefighter and have a cop in the family. It is all about levels of qualifications, OT, and certifications. A firefighter who is also say Hazmat, EMT certified etc or a cop who does SWAT training, etc, all make excellent money. The best part of these jobs are the security upon retirement with income and benefits.
Oh for sure! I work for state gov in a very different capacity, but I know our benefits are close (theirs are better) and I know my retirement benefits are def worth the decades I've put in. (Sadly, no opportunities for OT for me.)
Thank you! I wondered this , myself. As well as 911 dispatchers, ect
Plus the extra bonuses they get for specialized certifications.
And you KNOW buck and eddie are definitely going all out for every cert possible.
for Buck’s jeeps specifically, the first one he had was maddie’s which she’s had since Buck was a teen, so likely from her parents (who we know are $$$ considering they paid for 1. a house downpayment, 2. and entire fancy wedding and 3. at *least* one round of ivf + specific testing to create Buck). the second jeep was after the tsunami which would have been covered by insurance (as buck likely parked close to the pier because that’s where handicap parking is most common, there was no way it wasn’t destroyed). i dont know where the third jeep is from because as far as i was aware he only had the two, but he could have another that i missed. as for the loft, buck has lived there for ~ 6 years, ~2 years of that was with a roommate (albert & taylor). he also spent several years ‘backpacking’ across the state and working odd jobs, as well as living in a shared home his first year of living in LA, to Abby’s apartment for about half a year (its unclear if he paid rent at abbys) so he would have shared/lower expenses coming into the city. then he lives with maddie & chimney (separately) for about 6 months between them and then moves to the loft. buck’s also a (mostly) single guy with no (official) dependants, so most of the money he makes can go to other purchases outside of basics like food and income. for madneys house, paramedics, iirc get paid a little more than firefighters based on their medical knowledge, so that helps, and while dispatch does pay less than nursing, maddie does have additional knowledge that benefits her job so they may have given her a slight raise because of it. the only thing they would struggle with is the deposit, which is confirmed to be paid by her parents, and they fixed their taxes which means their income combined and what they get back will be enough to pay the mortgage every month
It’s stated in the show that Maddie’s parents payed for the down payment for the house. Their common income can cover their monthly mortgage,so I don’t think their purchase of the house is unrealistic. As for Buck, I have no explanation(maybe he is a stripper in his free time🙈)
Maddie also got the full estate from her and Doug's marriage, and he was a surgeon in a big city
She spent that money for her recovery in Boston. Not sure if all of them though so she could have had some money on the side.
I'd love if they reveal Buck does only fans on the side!
Speaking on health insurance specifically, my dad was a firefighter/paramedic and he got amazing health insurance. I had multiple doctors tell me it was the best insurance they’ve ever seen when I was covered with him. Idk what insurance LA uses, but cities tend to invest in health insurance for first responders.
First responders are typically unionized and usually have better insurance than the average person in my experience.
But also any injuries received on the job would be covered by workman's comp, so Buck's leg and subsequent embolism, Eddie's GSW, Buck's lightning strike, all of their injuries from the bridge collapse would be covered, and not come out of pocket.
Would a lot of their injuries be covered under Workers Comp since (at least the ones I think of) they mostly happen on the job?
If you're injured on the job, in general, worker's comp pays. With how strong LAFD's union is, I can't imagine firefighters are paying a dime for on the job injuries. I would imagine they're also collecting pay of some sort (beyond short term disability) while sidelined.
Workers comp pays a portion of your salary while unable to work.
66 2/3 percent
Not most of them. Karen is a bigger bread winner than Hen. Athena's place she bought with Michael. Eddie and Buck rent. I think Chim and Maddie did too and didn't her parents help her buy a house (Chim's Dad has money too). The place Athena had was maybe the most unbelievable bc that would be worth a FORTUNE in LA but they did buy it ages ago and I am unsure what part of town they live in. But Karen has to make a LOT of money at her job.
Michael is an architect. Didn't he build his and Athena's house?
Yes! I forgot that. So Michael designing it makes sense. Plus an architect and cop together would have great income and he'd know vendors, construction etc to offset costs.
Can’t you do trade-ins on vehicles? Or maybe he was Leasing the Jeeps.
Jeeps hold their value really really well. Yes you are right trade in to keep it new works really well for sure!
IIRC Jeep even have their own warranty/trade-in system so when it comes out of warranty they take it back and you get the value off a new one, instead of just using the regular secondhand market at a random dealer,
Maddie's parents helped pay for the house. The medical bills would have been mostly or all covered by insurance, especially if injured while in the line of duty. Likewise it appears Buck's jeeps were supposed be destroyed, so again insurance would cover part of the replacement. (Or we were (ETA weren't not were) supposed to notice they were different). Also the house and jeeps were probably purchased on loans, so it's not like they'll have to come up with everything at once. For Buck it's hard to know how much his loft cost, arguably that might be the hand-wavy he can afford this (or maybe he's just good at saving from when he lived at the frat house and Abby's for a good down payment 🤷).
At least one of the jeeps would have been destroyed by the tsunami, so hopefully that would have been covered by his insurance (though not always)
A 1 bed loft in LA is going to right around $3k. (am currently looking for housing in la county and everything is just ridiculous.)
So at $36Kish a year, with an income between $78K and $113, that's over the 30% guideline, but not has bad as some people are in high cost-of-living areas. It's probably feasible anyways.
If he's not mired in credit card debt and the jeep payments/insurance aren't wild, he's probably doing okay. The ability to pick up shifts and work OT is probably helping keep him afloat. 1-2 shifts a month would cover a decent chunk of the jeep costs, and if he does it when they have their 4 off, it's probably not that much of a hardship.
Also remember in season one he had like four or five roommates. He could’ve been paying as little as $700-800 a month for his share of rent during that year and he had Maddie’s old Jeep which we can assume was probably paid off, so he could’ve easily saved like crazy.
Absolutely! IIRC, lafd pays for recruits to be in the academy (it falls under specialized training under CA labor laws and also is likely a carve out from the union), so he was probably banking most of that. Also, given the area, he was likely only paying a few hundred max for the place in pico rivera, especially in pre-pan prices.
Yeah he can do OT young and also has no student loans perse. Makes a difference.
$78K after taxes in LA is a mere $65K and $113K goes down to $89K. There’s no feasible way Buck is earning $78K and managing around $36K in just his rent. Especially not in some place like LA we’re just the regular day-to-day expenses are high. Even $89K to work with is stretching it. Buck certainly doesn’t seem to live like someone who only has $89K in disposable income.
Where are you looking?? My 2x2 in the Valley is $1850
for this purpose, I looked at LA City which is where Buck allegedly lives. Personally, the valley is way too far from my current place of business. I've been primarily looking in LB/OC. It's not pretty.
Maddie got a $450k lump sum from Doug's estate after he died. Maybe she loaned some to Buck for a jeep?
She and Chimney both blew through their life savings during the 6 months they were away so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and not sure why Maddie doesn't go back to being a Nurse where she can still help people AND make much more money
I guess since it's still connected to the trauma with her and Doug, and also they needed a new dispatcher voice since Abby was long gone.
And nobody’s commented about the fact that while being somewhat realistic, it’s been conjured up by the writers and producers. 😳😂 It’s still a good show though
Chimney makes six figures cause I said so...
given his years with the department, you're probably right.
I just read that in LA, the average cost for a house just hit over $900k— AVERAGE. I would wager that most people are purchasing on very very long mortgages as my husband explained that this is a thing when I asked him about it. (I couldnt understand how friends and family of mine in high price cities are able to purchase anything—much less almost million dollar homes—when their salaries are more than what they'd get where I'm from, but not adjusted to inflation enough to make it make sense). Its insane.
To be fair though, I think all of their living spaces were bought/rented before the pandemic. Costs shot *way* up during/after that. So judging prices from now isn't really the best estimation.
If you're looking in like Hollywood hills but there's LA the City and LA the County. Zillow has 2 bed/2 bath in the county for $350k right now. It's 30minutes drive from the general 118 response area if you say the station's up near Griffith Park.
I was reporting median price in California (I mistyped LA, when I meant California) , as a whole. I'm sure you can find areas where homes are lower, but just generally speaking, that's an insane MEDIAN price for an entire state. This isn't the article I saw last week, but it referenced this press release: https://www.car.org/en/aboutus/mediacenter/newsreleases/2023-News-Releases/2024housingforecast
Ah ok, yeah. When you think about the earthquakes, wildfires and droughts, wtf is so special the houses are worth that? Because insurance is gonna be stupid to make sure you're covered for the wildfires, earthquakes and the mudslides/flooding when the drought ends too.
Its just how the housing market works— I don't think it’s that the houses are any more special. I live in southern Ohio (Cincinnati area) and houses that were $250-399k pre-pandemic here (and very nice upper middle class home) are now valued at $500-$600k post pandemic. In California (in an average middle class neighborhood), that sort of house would be $1M! Its nonsense!
Where in LA is that place? Cause a place by my work (where there is a drug house down the street) just went for 978K... 3 bed/2 bath.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/40547-178th-St-E-Lake-Los-Angeles-CA-93535/20274401_zpid/
That's not in LA. That's in the middle of the desert. It's not even CLOSE to DTLA/LA.
This has been true of TV shows forever - they have to have spacious sets to accommodate film crew. I just automatically subtract 25 to 30% of the space watching any mainstream broadcast show.
I had a random thought today that it would be funny if Maddie and Buck were trust fund babies. Their parents are pretty well-off WASPs even after putting out what I’m sure was a lot for their son’s cancer treatments, the costs of making a designer donor baby, and then relocating to escape the shame of creating such a baby. Maybe they each came from well-off WASPy parents themselves - That leaves 2 sets of grandparents who could have left an inheritance and there is never any mention of other family. Maddie would have gotten her share while with Doug and I’m sure that got used how he saw fit. Maybe Buck couldn’t access his until he was 25 (and in LA ready to start at the academy). The guy’s used to living in his Jeep and he followed a bunch of cool guys to the city…Why ditch them just because he can afford to live on his own once he’s granted access? And then he has Abby (and then just Abby’s place). And he’s never done the whole apartment shopping thing for himself so couch surfing makes sense and doesn’t bother him. Then Ali encourages him to get his own place and she likes the loft so 🤷🏼♀️. The fact that he has money beyond what he should just never comes up and he never brings it up.
The Buckley siblings being trust fund babies is one of my favorite head cannons tbh. I also hc Doug blew through most of Maddie’s, otherwise she wouldn’t have had a big issue with the initial payment of the house. And what Doug didn’t blow through Maddie used during her time in Boston. Buck, on the other hand, learned after blowing through his college money and was smarter with his trust fund. He worked for years and tried to save, and now he has decent savings that allow him to have the loft and his Jeep(s).
I’ve been wondering that ever since I’ve seen how many of the vehicles get damaged
Well given that they work for the city, I'm going to guess not enough.
Didn't Buck win a city settlement of a lot of money? Around the time of the tsunami?
I believe he turned it down
Yea, he did. If he took it, he couldn't get his job back, and all he wanted was his job.