Rising salaries for California public-sector employees created big increases in average pension checks — with firefighters seeing benefits nearly triple since 1999, according to The Sacramento Bee.

The newspaper reviewed 14 years of CalPERS annual reports — from 1999 through 2012 — to analyze the impact of pension reform and pay raises on the checks received by beneficiaries.

Average first-month pension benefit checks received by California firefighters went from $1,770 in 1999 to $4,978 in 2012. California Highway Patrol officers saw checks increase from $3,633 in 1999 to $7,418 in 2012.