It's not about the $8.

It's about the soul of an institution in transition, from a small-town brotherhood to a big-city machine - and in turn, about the soul of a fast-growing city which clings to its history while still egging on its development.

Mission's 96-year-old volunteer firefighter program may be on the chopping block today as the city commission is set to discuss in a special meeting whether it can legally allow less-trained volunteers to work alongside civil service personnel.

"This is an organization that's been running for close to 100 years already," volunteer firefighter Albert Juarez said of the auxiliary program. "The past couple years, there've been a lot of changes, due to the city getting bigger. But it's always been a tradition."

Those changes include making the fire and police departments civil service organizations and cutting the perks and benefits that volunteers had been collecting from the department. Although pay for simply waiting for a call at the station was taken off the budget, an $8 per-call stipend remained.

As the city's official department has grown, built new stations and increased its standards, the volunteer program has become less necessary. While smaller cities rely on volunteers to compensate for budget shortfalls, Mission's four stations are fully staffed.

Still, the corps has deep roots: About half of the current paid staffers started out as volunteers and many followed their fathers and grandfathers into the program, including Chief Ricardo Saldaña.

‘Tension'

The volunteers started out as a bucket brigade, sworn to protect the iconic La Lomita chapel, Juarez said.

James Cardoza, a part-time firefighter in the department, emulated his father by joining the volunteer ranks. Today, his 11-year-old son serves as the program's unofficial mascot.

"All I want is my son to have the same opportunity that I did," he said.

The volunteers insist they are willing to do away with their stipends, and stay on uncompensated, to honor their tradition of service to the city.

The firefighters' union says volunteers have been mouthing off to full-time staff, using their internal system of rank to challenge the authority of officers on the paid force.

Afternoons and evenings will often find some of the 30-odd volunteers hanging out in the common rooms when they're not helping out with chores, treating the job like a social organization between calls, said Lt. Michael Silva, a paid firefighter and the president of the Mission Fire Fighters Association.

"We don't appreciate them coming in here and disrespecting our guys," Silva said. "You feel the tension in the air and it's just going to get worse if the city doesn't take appropriate actions."

The volunteers, despite their professional gear and demeanor, have retained a few of the good-old-boy perks built into the program in its early years.

For example, a volunteer gets paid a stipend for every call while on duty, whether he or she served at all of them or only one. The volunteer could have been sent to any of the calls or from one to the other, Cardoza said, so he or she should be paid for all of them.
"That has always been the way it was done," he said.

‘Growing pains'

Silva says the chief ignored complaints about the volunteers because of his loyalty to the program, and Mayor Norberto "Beto" Salinas agrees Saldaña let the situation get out of hand.

Saldaña declined to comment.

"We appreciate everything the (volunteer) firefighters have done for the city of Mission," Salinas said Thursday. "At one point we depended on the volunteers, when we had a station and a half. ... Now, we have four stations and are working on a fifth one. We have paid staff on every station."

"It's part of our growing pains in the city," he said.

Still, some question whether abolishing or trimming the volunteer program is the right thing for Mission.

"I think their training's just as good as some of the paid firemen in the Valley," Hidalgo County Emergency Management Coordinator Tony Peña said of the volunteers. When multiple departments turn out to combat wildfires, serving long nights trying to keep flames away from homes, the Mission volunteers are an important part of the force, he said.

"If it wasn't for the city of Mission, I wouldn't be where I am today," said Wesley Bradley, a 25-year-old deputy fire marshal with the county and a volunteer for the last seven years. He and Peña work together.

"It's really breaking my heart watching what the city's trying to do with the volunteers."

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Sara Perkins covers Mission, western Hidalgo County, Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4472.