Just how out of whack is San Francisco’s overtime pay for firefighters?

The Fire Department is chronically understaffed and has left 400 positions vacant, which means taxpayers shell out an incredible amount in overtime pay. None of it seems to get people’s attention though, except for those every-once-in-a-while occasions when the Chronicle’s Matier & Ross report on a few flesh-and-blood examples. Today’s poster boys include: A lieutenant at Station 39 on Portola Avenue whose paycheck of $363,000 last year was more than Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White made. And a paramedic/firefighter at Station 51 in the Presidio who pulled in $337,204.