RRU: Fired Cal Fire captain retroactively resigns

Thursday, July 26, 2012

RRU: Fired Cal Fire captain retroactively resigns

Who: Cal Fire captain Arthur Gonzalez, who worked at Station 18 on Mission Boulevard, Jurupa Valley has been allowed to retroactively resign after he appealed his dismissal for submitting incorrect time sheets.

Why: Gonzalez was fired Feb. 11, 2011, for submitting incorrect time sheets after a battalion chief found inaccuracies with the amount of time Gonzalez claimed to have worked, according to Ginevra K. Chandler, chief counsel for Cal Fire.

What: Gonzalez appealed the action, and his attorney and Cal Fire reached a settlement before the scheduled hearing this summer. The terms of the settlement prohibit Gonzalez from ever seeking employment with Cal Fire again.
Also, Cal Fire agreed to remove all documents related to this case from Gonzalez’s personnel file, and Gonzalez dropped his appeal. Gonzalez was represented by John Bakhit of Upland-based Lackie, Dammeier and McGill, which specializes in representing public safety employees. Gonzalez hired Bakhit after his first attorney was barred from practicing law in California

Where: Former Cal Fire captain Arthur Gonzalez, worked at Station 18 on Mission Boulevard, Jurupa Valley John Hawkins, chief of the Riverside unit, said the Gonzalez case prompted him to order a review of 13 months of time sheets of about 1,200 employees in Cal Fire Riverside unit.

What Else: A firefighter based in El Cerrito south of Corona received a letter of warning, and a firefighter in Desert Center was demoted.

California Fire News 2012

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

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Thursday, July 26, 2012