LAFD calls off firefighter ambulance reassignment, rank and file did not like the plan and they were very vocal about it.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

LAFD calls off firefighter ambulance reassignment, rank and file did not like the plan and they were very vocal about it.

City firefighters ambulance plan scrapped after 2 days, budget allotment
The city will fund an extra 11 ambulances without the need to reassign firefighters

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- L.A.'s fire chief dropped a controversial cost-cutting plan to reassign firefighters from fire trucks to ambulances.

After being praised for the heroic work his firefighters did on a recent apartment complex fire, L.A. City Fire Chief Brian Cummings took a lot of heat for his realignment plan to remove one firefighter from a six-person truck and put them in an ambulance. That plan went into effect on Sunday.

After just two days it's been scrapped, at least for now. The L.A. City Council agreed to give the fire department $1.5 million to fully staff the trucks and to put an extra 11 ambulances into service through the end of June.

According to the L.A. City Fire Dept., 85 percent of their daily calls are for emergency medical services. Chief Cummings reminded the city council that he had asked for funding to cover the costs of fully manning engines and adding ambulances in his most recent budget.

"When that money wasn't forthcoming, I looked at the need for the communities that we serve, that 85 percent emergency medical service call, and within my budget I deployed the resources necessary in order to handle the public safety concerns, in order to save lives," said Cummings.

The chief's rank and file did not like the plan and they were very vocal about it.

"It's very frustrating that we're even talking about this safety issue," said Captain Frank Lima, president of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City. "We support ambulances but not at the expense at taking an inside firefighter off of our truck companies."

Cummings said the $1.5 million will pay for the voluntary overtime to keep the engines and ambulances fully staffed. Cummings said he'd need $13 million in the next budget to maintain that staffing.

The city council vote was unanimous to fund the overtime for the next two months.

On the days when he can't fill the ambulances with voluntary overtime, Cummings says he will go back to pulling a firefighter from a six-man truck and putting them in an ambulance.

---------------------------------------------
Full story: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=9094276

CFN - California Fire News 2013

No comments:

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).

CFN - CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS - CAL FIRE NEWS

Thursday, May 9, 2013