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Pittsburgh City Council

Fire budget will not cover free smoke detector program.

Written by Amy Whipple

While the image of city firefighters is of them rescuing residents from raging infernos, Fire Chief Darryl Jones said during a Nov. 20 budget meeting the real work is saving lives before the trucks even get to the scene.

Jones said a primary focus is community risk reduction because vulnerability to fire increases as a person’s position on the socioeconomic scale decreases. Jones describes this as a sociopolitical problem, most of which is outside of his purview.

One of the few things he can do, he said, is get free smoke detectors to residents. But the work is not funded by the city. “I am literally out there panhandling for smoke detectors.” There’s a 1,000-request backlog, and each request/home would ideally receive four smoke detectors. Jones’s $20,000 request for smoke detectors, and $30,000 for outreach and educational programming, was denied for the preliminary budget.

Looking into 2026, the bureau has the same problems as other public safety departments, including too much overtime pay. Council Budget Director Peter McDevitt said the city has spent about $21 million on overtime so far this year, or $3.5 million more than it is allotted in the preliminary budget for next year. McDevitt said the bureau has not spent below $20 million in overtime since 2020.

Jones said this is in part due to road closures. For some construction projects — which Jones said he’s not always notified of — the department must staff additional trucks to maintain appropriate coverage on either side of the closure.

Connections to this story

Topics:
Public Safety & EMS
Governments:
Pittsburgh City Council
Public meetings:
City Council · November 24, 2025

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