A Conversation with Jason Berzowski

Longboat Key Fire Rescue Lieutenant and lead union negotiator Jason Berzowski, 37, is an eight-year town employee who trains rookies and even cooks dinner at the fire house when he’s on shift. He is also sitting at the bargaining table during contract negotiations this summer.

How does a guy with a degree in finance become a firefighter?

I worked for a financial planning firm for three years in Orlando. I was always good with numbers and took AP Economics in high school. But I didn’t like the cutthroat environment of the private sector. I’m a team guy who loves coaching football and baseball. I’m sitting on the couch on Sept. 11, 2001, and I remember being inspired by the firefighters doing what they did that day, knowing they were going to die when they ran into the towers. Within a year, I was in the fire academy.

What attracted you to Longboat Key Fire Rescue?

We wanted to be closer to family in Bradenton and some positions opened up in August 2007. I tested well because of the experience I got in Orlando. At the time, Longboat Key paid 10% better, and I was able to take that 10% increase and put it away in the pension plan as required as part of that former contract. But health insurance has gone up, that pension is gone, and wages don’t line up with neighboring firehouses.

What does your union membership want as part of a new three-year contract?

My job as a union rep is to represent their voice. They want to feel appreciated in the form of pay, pension and overall recognition. I recognize when there are tough times that we have a share in that, and we may not get a raise because taxpayers we serve are hurting as well. But the economy has been good for a while, and surrounding areas have increased their wages and gotten their pension in line. We hope our Town Commission sees that. We’re not asking to be top dog. We want nothing more than what others have. My goal is to keep these people here for 25 years, and a new contract is needed to do that.

You’ve stated that the disparity in wages for lieutenants is concerning. If this contract isn’t amended to fix that, will you consider leaving?

I don’t want to go there yet. I’m remaining positive things will change because I love working for this town, and I’m committed to this organization. 

Did Longboat Key Fire Rescue Chief Paul Dezzi do anything wrong when he told Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key members the town needs to address pension and wage issues as part of a new contract?

No. The chief was just relaying what the guys were telling him. He had a bunch of guys, myself included, shaking his hand for speaking up. He’s the leader of our organization, and his comments made us stronger as a group. He’s supposed to be our voice. The timing of the comments (right before contract negotiations) was unfortunate.

The union and town labor attorney Reynolds Allen spar during contract negotiation sessions, but in a previous interview, Allen called Longboat Key firefighters his friends. Is that an accurate statement?

It is. I consider Reynolds a friend. We're both raised in Florida and have a kinship in that. He’s very good at what he does, and it’s nothing personal. I don’t like him sometimes at the table, but that’s OK.

How does the Longboat Key firefighter/paramedic experience compare with bigger cities?

It’s a lot more personable and I love that. I know the majority of the people that work for the town. In Orange County, we had 1,100 firefighters and I only knew about 10% of them. I met the commissioners and the town manager the day I was hired. The town manager knows my name and knows the names of my kids and asks how they are doing. That’s pretty cool. 

What do Longboat Key firefighter/paramedics do out here do on an average day?

A lot of people don’t know that 80% to 90% of our calls are medical based. People call us because they have the flu or sprained their ankle. We do hyperthermia therapy, IV pumps, advanced trauma, pediatric care…The list goes on and on. I would put our guys up there with anyone in the state.

What’s your main concern for Longboat Key firefighter/paramedics who work on this island?

My main concern is our backups in town are 10 to 15 minutes way; longer than that in season. So if we get a big fire out here, we have to John Wayne it for 15 minutes or longer before backup arrives. That requires a lot of intensive training that other departments don’t do. From a tactical standpoint, my main concern is the complexity of some of these high-rise buildings out here. We have buildings with scissor stairways that don’t always end up on the same floor. We have to know these buildings like the back of our hands. It takes five to six years to learn the ins and outs of these buildings, and that’s why retaining employees as part of a new contract is so important. Just because we don’t fight a fire every day doesn’t mean the danger isn’t the same.

What’s your main responsibility as a lieutenant?

My No. 1 job as an officer is to get everyone home to his or her families. We do more training than the average department and the guys might complain about it here and there. But I’m OK if they’re mad at me, as long as I get them home at the end of each shift.

What’s the relationship like between Longboat Key firefighter/paramedics and citizens?

It’s special. We get people coming up to us in Publix to thank us and we can ask them how they’re doing. We provide a white glove service that you don’t get in other places. When I had just become a lieutenant, a man called to report the death of his wife overnight. We could tell he was having a hard time, so we stayed with him for almost an hour. The guys made him breakfast in his kitchen, made sure he was taking his pills and helped him call his relatives. Those are the kinds of calls I’m most proud of. In a big city, you can’t do stuff like that because you’re off on another call. Restaurant owners bring us turkeys for Thanksgiving and desserts on Christmas. 

What’s the best thing about being a firefighter?

Serving people and helping them during the worst times in their lives. I’m a Christian and was raised to help others. And I get a paycheck to help people, which is pretty awesome when you think about it. The easiest part of my day is running calls. I would run 20 calls a day if I could and the paperwork didn’t get in the way. 

What’s the worst thing about being a firefighter?

Family life suffers. It’s hard for a wife or husband to understand what we do. We are away from our families every third day. We miss holidays, birthdays and all sorts of events. And it’s tough on the kids. More than 50% of our guys have been through at least one marriage.

What’s your most harrowing experience as a firefighter to date?

I spent four years as an Orange County firefighter/paramedic in a busy section of Orlando. We got trapped a couple of times in burning buildings. I almost lost my life a couple of times. You rely on your buddies and God to get through it. I’m lucky to say I’ve had only a handful of dangerous experiences in my career, while firefighters in cities like New York City have close calls every day. 

What are the firehouse pranks like?

The pranks aren’t as bad as they used to be. If you’re a rookie, you still have to guard all of your stuff though. And rookies mop the floors and clean the toilets. Once I left a shirt on the table and I found it in the freezer. And when I left my bunker gear on the trunk after a shift as a rookie, I had to use the ladder to get it all down from the rafters.

What’s it like in the firehouse when you’re not running calls or training?

We’re a family, we really are. We live a third of our lives together. We’re brothers. We watch TV together and eat together. I do the cooking and they seem to like it. I try meals out on the guys before I’ll try them at home. If someone is going through a divorce, having a hard time or needs help moving, we get the calls before real family members do. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

You were born and raised in Homestead. What was your Hurricane Andrew experience like?

We waited the storm out at home and lost three quarters of our house. The front door blew straight off its hinges. It was the scariest experience of my life as a kid. It sounded like a train was running through the house. The neighborhood looked like a bomb went off. We were without power and cable for six months. It turned out to be a great learning experience for me. I helped put roofs on houses and the neighborhood really rallied together.