DETROIT (WWJ) – Shuttered Detroit firehouses have become the latest targets for scrap metal thieves.
At least a half-dozen fire stations across the city from Southwest Detroit to the near east side, including engine and ladder companies 33, 46 and 49, are now closed.
Executive Fire Commissioner Don Austin told WWJ Newsradio 950 thieves are breaking into the closed buildings and stripping them of what can be sold for scrap, more..Detroit CBSLocal.com
Baltimore is considering selling ads on fire engines to help cover a $48 million shortfall and to help keep three engine companies active.
My opinion. If the advertiser can promise a percentage of profits gained from the campaign back to the city – designated directly back to the fire department as well as the money from the ads then why not?
Last month I posted this account of a disabled retired FDNY firefighter working as an active fire captain in another town. Today LAWeekly.com published news of an L.A. City firefighter allegedly collecting disability for nearly two years who is an active MMA fighter with a record of 12 wins and 2 losses.
–Prosecutors say that laid-up L.A. city firefighter Rafael Davis was caught moonlighting as a mixed martial arts fighter, under the name “The Noodle:” The 35-year-old was arrested at his Lomita home at 9 a.m. this morning on suspicion of insurance fraud, according to a statement from the L.A. County District Attorney’s office. He was hit with four felony counts of insurance fraud, the office says.
Prosecutors contend that the Los Angeles Fire Department employee filed for workers compensation insurance between Dec. 2, 2008, to May 20, 2011, even as he fought in MMA bouts.–
If true Davis gave a black eye to the profession and deserves the full weight of the criminal justice system to bear down on him.
I was okay with this story until it’s revealed at the end of the article he works as a fire captain in his adopted township.
“Cliff Stabner, a 55-year-old city firefighter who retired in 2003 with a three-quarter disability pension of $95,000 annually, has surfaced as a member of the fire rescue team responding to crashes at Dover International Speedway in Delaware. The Post has obtained photos of Stabner wearing an orange jumpsuit and a helmet and standing next to a rescue vehicle at Dover’s “Monster Mile’’ track. Stabner also is a fire captain in his quaint new hometown of Lewes, Del.”
I’m not privy to the details of Stabner’s retirement. I can see how he could crew for a race team, hold a fire extinguisher, man a safety line. If he can function as a fire captain he should not be pulling down a disability pension. Maybe his pension should be redefined.
My disability pension from the state of California specifically states I cannot take a job with a similar job description as my old position, as it should be. If I could carry out the tasks of fire captain and all that goes with the title and responsibility I should still be working.
We were trained never to climb a ladder without someone footing it. If we ignored that advice we could be docked a weeks pay. The reason we anchor a ladder is to prevent the kind of injury sustained by Captain Dibble.
Link to story here.
From MercuryNews.com;
There is a perception that CAL FIRE’s cooperative agreement program is rapidly growing. The truth is that the number of agreements has remained between 145 and 150 over the last several decades. However, in this challenging economy, there is a rise in the number of inquiries from local governing bodies requesting information or proposals from CAL FIRE. Many of these inquires are just part of the local jurisdictions’ due diligence of assuring they are delivering the most cost-effective services to their residents. Public agencies are looking for models of good government and leveraging the financial benefits of working together to provide critical public safety functions.
From Cal Fire’s website.
Since the 1940s, local government entities such as cities, counties and districts have contracted with CAL FIRE to provide many forms of emergency services for their communities. CAL FIRE provides full-service fire protection to many of the citizens of California through the administration of 145 cooperative fire protection agreements in 33 of the State’s 58 counties, 30 cities, 32 fire districts and 25 other special districts and service areas. As a full-service fire department CAL FIRE responds to wildland fires, structure fires, floods, hazardous material spills, swift water rescues, civil disturbances, earthquakes, and medical emergencies of all kinds. Local governments are able to utilize this diversity and experience through their contracts and agreements with the Department.”
“
Cal Fire Rig
Camden New Jersey is set to lay off one third of their fire fighting force tomorrow. Mayor Redd and her administration have exhausted all potential avenues available to avoid the job losses.
Mayor Redd has leaned on concessions from the public safety bargaining units as part the plan and was partially successful in getting them to bend. The Mayor wanted a 10% pay reduction but the union stuck to a 3.5% drop in pay for its membership.
Clearly this is the battlefield of the future for firefighter compensation across the nation. New hires and some veterans will accept lower pay and fewer benefits or they won’t be hired or promoted. Camden is not the first to lay off police and fire but they are certainly among the higher profile cities dealing with the problem.
Camden is not a one off casualty of the great recession. There is pain ahead for city budgets. Police and fire will be impacted, more layoffs will occur. Public safety will be measured differently in the future by lower pay for incoming employees and increased use of volunteers. Firefighters will still be needed to backfill some spots opened by retirement but firefighting is not a growth industry, and that is sad.
Prichard Alabama is the canary in the coal mine. Municipalities across the nation will be forced to confront the looming pension funding crisis. The town of Prichard stopped paying their pensioners and in the wake retired firefighters and other retired public servants have suffered.
Excerpt from CNBC via New York Times;
Prichard did something that pension experts say they have never seen before: it stopped sending monthly pension checks to its 150 retired workers, breaking a state law requiring it to pay its promised retirement benefits in full.
Since then, Nettie Banks, 68, a retired Prichard police and fire dispatcher, has filed for bankruptcy. Alfred Arnold, a 66-year-old retired fire captain, has gone back to work as a shopping mall security guard to try to keep his house. Eddie Ragland, 59, a retired police captain, accepted help from colleagues, bake sales and collection jars after he was shot by a robber, leaving him badly wounded and unable to get to his new job as a police officer at the regional airport.
Far worse was the retired fire marshal who died in June. Like many of the others, he was too young to collect Social Security. “When they found him, he had no electricity and no running water in his house,” said David Anders, 58, a retired district fire chief. “He was a proud enough man that he wouldn’t accept help.”
“Prichard is the future,” said Michael Aguirre, the former San Diego city attorney, who has called for San Diego to declare bankruptcy and restructure its own outsize pension obligations. “We’re all on the same conveyor belt. Prichard is just a little further down the road.”
Prichard Alabama Fire Department
Cal Fire is accepting applications for seasonal firefighters for the 2011 California fire season.
Firefighter I is a temporary classification used by CAL FIRE. The Fire Fighter I application period usually occurs between November and January and hiring usually occurs between April and June, depending upon the year’s fire and weather conditions.
The minimum qualification to participate in the Fire Fighter I Examination is that you must be 18 years of age at the time of appointment to a Firefighter I position.
You must file a Fire Fighter I Application at each CAL FIRE Unit in which you wish to be considered for appointment. For a listing of CAL FIRE Units, please refer to the “CAL FIRE Unit Contacts”.
The filing period for the 2011 season is November 1, 2010 through January 31, 2011.
Applications will be accepted by mail OR in person for the units in the Northern Region. Applications will be accepted on a file-in-person basis ONLY for the units in the Southern Region. PLEASE REVIEW THE UNIT LISTING ON THE REVERSE SIDE OF THIS BULLETIN TO DETERMINE THE APPROPRIATE FILING METHOD.
APPLICATIONS MUST BE FILED AT EACH UNIT IN WHICH YOU WISH TO BE CONSIDERED FOR APPOINTMENT. APPLICATIONS RECEIVED AFTER JANUARY 31, 2011 MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR THE 2011 FIRE SEASON.
Applications will not be accepted at Sacramento Headquarters, Region Offices, or Conservation Camps.
The City of Ann Arbor Michigan has approved funding an elaborate water fountain art project costing over $800,000.00. An Arbor recently fired three full time firefighters due to budget constraints.
The new fountain will grace the entrance to the Ann Arbor police headquarters.
The proposed 2010-2011 budget for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, “Cal Fire” has been published. Governor Schwarzenegger was kind to Cal Fire as he has been throughout his two terms. The key to the 2010-2011 budget is the use of funds through the “Emergency Response Initiative”.
From eBudget.ca.gov; The budget includes a reduction of $200 million in General Fund and replacement with revenue generated from a 4.8 percent surcharge on all residential and commercial property insurance statewide.
Beginning in 2011-12, the Emergency Response Initiative will provide funding to enhance the state’s emergency response capabilities, including enhancements for CAL FIRE, the California Emergency Management Agency, the MilitaryDepartment, and assistance to local first response agencies in support of the state’s mutual aid system.
Infrastructure improvement outlays seem extremely generous. No less than 48 infrastructure improvement projects including relocation or replacement of fire stations, regional headquarters, helitack bases and other facilities are budgeted. I can find nothing in the way of station closing or staff reductions. There might be such references in the budget but I did not see it on the first read.
In fact Resource Management (foresters) will will be funded higher in 2010-2011 than last year.
Fire districts around the country and municipalities within California will be envious. Somehow even as California is sinking in red ink the state’s wildland firefighting force escapes unscathed for at least another year.
The one regret, I cannot find a reference to either the DC-10 Supertanker or the Evergreen 747 Supertanker. Surely both will be seen in the sky over the state this Summer.
Information from within eBudget.ca.gov
CAL FIRE Emergency Fire Suppression Expenditures —
A decrease of $32.8 million for CAL FIRE’s emergency fire costs. Based on expenditures to date, CAL FIRE’s emergency fire suppression expenditures are estimated to be $255.8 million in 2009‑10. In 2010‑11, the Governor’s Budget proposes a total of $223 million. General Fund for CAL FIRE’s emergency fire expenditures, which reflects the historical average of emergency firefighting costs over the past five years and
additional federal reimbursements.
Full Cal Fire budget hits will be forthcoming. The cuts in “Emergency Fire Suppression Expenditures” looks like it can be worked around. Typically an El Nino year fire season claims fewer acres. This “hit” looks like an easy one for the Governor to make and for Cal Fire to absorb.
The National Interagency Fire Center’s Predictive Services office details the potential effect of El Nino this Spring for all regions of the U.S.
Generally, California (with the exception of the extreme N/E corner) will see above average precipitation through April.
Arizona is wet and getting wetter through the Spring.
Washington and the Northwest can expect some easing of the drought.
West Texas, New Mexico can expect above average precipitation through April.
Year to date fire activity has been 42% of normal burning 26% of average acres.
What this means for the upcoming fire season.
Fuel moisture will be way up and some areas of the Sierra’s may stay green through the Summer. NIFC notes significant tree and brush damage and freeze-kill brush from heavier than normal snowfall will contribute to fuel loads.
For California NIFC predicts the potential for significant fire through June is normal. History contradicts this sentiment. Fewer acres burn in a Summer following an El Nino event. Unless driven by unusual or out of season wind events June and July should be quiet. We should see the inverse of 2008.
I don’t expect any significant wildfire activity in the state until the Santa Ana winds return to Southern California counties in the Fall.
If the drought pattern holds in the Northwest that is where the Summer action will take place.
From Colorado Springs to New York City local government is feeling the effects of fewer tax dollars in city coffers. The inevitable has begun, the sacred staff are feeling the falling axe.
The Wall Street Journal points to municipalities from coast to coast that are feeling the pinch.
I suspect new hires in the fire service will pay the price, and soon. Three percent at 50, the current retirement package at the state, county and city level in California may soon be a thing of the past. Maybe it is time to revisit some sacred cow benefits. Move retirement to 60 with a light duty or a training clause towards the end? Just saying.
I suspect a premium will be (and should be) placed on our volunteer firefighting forces as well. Times are changing, time to come up with some fresh ideas.
Hard to believe but the 2 million residents of Port-au-Prince Haiti are served by a single fire station. The video below, highlighting the efforts of Lt Nate Lasseur of the West Palm Beach Florida Fire Department profiles the needs of fire professionals in this impoverished country.
There is nothing on the Internet pointing to any information on fire or rescue services in Haiti. By contrast the city of San Jose California, with a population of nearly 1 million offers individual websites with images for each of their 35 fire stations.
Something is wrong with this disparity.
Video: Lt Nate Lasseur Helping Haiti Firefighters
Montgomery Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service training Haiti firefighters in 2009.
First images from Haiti earthquake (via TwitPic, links embedded), the nation needs help ASAP.
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