POWAY, Calif. -- Poway firefighters have more than doubled their overtime pay in the past five years and they're expected to hit a record this year, it was reported Monday.

Overtime pay to Poway firefighters jumped from $397,010 in the city's 2002-03 budget to $829,769 in 2006-07, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Some firefighters earned nearly a third of their annual income from overtime, the newspaper reported.

The amount Poway has spent on overtime for its firefighters outpaces cities of similar size, including La Mesa, which spent $360,000 last fiscal year, the Union-Tribune reported.

National City, another city similar in size to Poway, spent $389,000 last fiscal year, according to the newspaper.

The Poway City Council recently voted to spend $40,000 on hiring a Folsom-based consultant to investigate the increase.

Poway Firefighters Association director Don Pursley blames injuries for at least some of the increase.

"It is important that it is not portrayed that we are making unjustified, outlandish money," Pursley told the newspaper. "Every overtime hour is an hour a firefighter chose or didn't choose to be away from home."