Cal Fire Furloughs: FCO Fire Station 85

Cal Fire Not Exempt from Furloughs
<

By Ashley Ritchie and Winston Whitehurst
Cal Fire Station 85 in Fresno County, the furloughed firefighters are busy at work, despite the state's mandatory day off. "When it was set up, it was based on office personnel that work an eight-hour day," Chris Christopherson, Cal Fire, said.
But with a schedule of 48 hours on, 48 hours off, the state's furlough plan is just not possible for first responders. "Obviously furloughing emergency response and public safety is not maybe necessarily the best way, but I know that we are trying to do our part as a state agency," Captain Sean Hernandez, Cal Fire, said.
So in order for Cal Fire to take the 9.3% pay cut created by the furloughs, firefighters must take those two days a month and apply them to their vacation time. The problem is it could actually end up costing the state more. "That time that's banked, and if someone retires within the next couple of years, that's vacation hours that they didn't use.
So then there's an added cost to the state, to the taxpayers because the employees are having to be cashed out for that time they didn't use because of the furlough process," Christopherson said.
And with rumors flying around about even more cuts to public safety, the firefighters at Station 85 are feeling the heat. "People are very concerned about what's going to happen as far as, is it going to continue to get worse.
Is the 9.3 going to become 12%, 15%?" Hernandez said. But until they get orders to close their doors, Cal Fire officials say they'll continue to provide protection to the people of Fresno County and fight fire through the furloughs.
All Cal Fire offices that are not fire stations are closing their doors two days a month because of the furloughs. That means on those days, you cannot get things like burn permits or fire report information.
On another note, the California Highway Patrol is exempt from the furloughs.
Source: KMPH Fox26 - Link