San Diego Deputy Fire Marshal Eric Dunnick — whose responsibilities include conducting fire inspections, reviewing building plans, and enforcing fire code violations — earned $264,037 in overtime last year. Dunnick’s overtime pay was nearly four and one-half times his annual salary of $59,337, according to city records obtained by the Times of San Diego. Since 2021, Dunnick has earned nearly $1.2 million in overtime, the second-highest five-year total in the city, just $100,000 less than San Diego Police Officer Jason Costanza.Dunnick was one of 12 San Diego Fire Department employees who in 2025 earned more than $200,000 in overtime pay. Among the 11 top overtime earners were seven fire captains, three fire battalion chiefs and one fire engineer.Since 2021, the San Diego Fire Department’s overtime has increased in four of five years, growing from $52.9 million 5 years ago to nearly $62.4 million last calendar year.
The massive overtime payouts come as the city faces a crippling budget shortfall, resulting in fewer city services and reduced hours at parks and libraries. In May 2025, San Diego’s Independent City Auditor examined the department’s use of overtime, concluding it did not follow budgeting best practices. The city auditor found the department consistently underestimated the number of firefighters who leave the city while simultaneously overestimating the number of recruits who finish academy. The resulting staffing imbalance increases the demand for overtime.San Diego Fire spokesperson Candace Hadley said multiple reasons drove the overtime increase. Part of it, she said, is that higher firefighter wages mean increased overtime rates paid by the city. “Annual overtime costs vary by year and depend on several factors, including staffing levels, emergency incident volume, training requirements, wildfire activity, special assignments, and deployments through the state’s mutual aid system,” she said. “Labor negotiated compensation increases also have impact on the cost of overtime — during the five years from Fiscal Year 2021 to Fiscal Year 2025, overall compensation increased by 17.2%.”Hadley said the need for around-the-clock staffing is another reason for the city paying out tens of millions in overtime each year.“Overtime is necessary to maintain constant staffing levels when personnel are on leave, vacancies exist, employees are deployed to major incidents, attending mandatory training, or assigned to specialized operations,” she said.On average, Hadley said the city receives about $5.6 million in overtime wage reimbursements from third parties when department personnel are deployed state or federal issues.“Fire-Rescue routinely assesses operational needs to identify adjustments or efficiencies to help control and reduce overtime expenditures,” said Hadley. “Overtime expenditures are also partially offset by personnel expenditure savings from vacant positions and reimbursements related to emergency deployments. For example, when SDFD personnel or apparatus are deployed to incidents through California’s Mutual Aid System, eligible associated costs are generally reimbursed through state and/or federal emergency funding mechanisms.”
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