Wednesday, February 26, 2014

#LAFD City’s leading source of overtime expenses. #CaFire

In this report, the Los Angeles Fire Department is identified as being the City’s leading source of overtime expenses.  

 LOS ANGELES - On Feb. 25, 2014, the Los Angeles City Controller’s Office released a report detailing the City’s overtime, bonus and healthcare expenses. 

The report correctly notes that sworn LAFD personnel “routinely require extended hours,” and the Department’s “constant staffing” model requires emergency response job vacancies be filled. In other words, if an individual calls in sick or is on scheduled vacation, another qualified Department member must be hired to fill that position. Filling this daily vacancy often requires the Department to pay overtime to an individual to fill the position.  

The constant staffing model ensures that the public receives the consistent, high quality fire and emergency medical services that they expect and deserve on a daily basis. The Department is poised to respond to a wide-variety of emergency situations and is often called upon to staff additional resources in order to provide the required protection to the City and the public. 

On Jan. 27, 2014, for the first time in five years, with the support of the Mayor and the City Council, the Los Angeles Fire Department enrolled a new class of firefighter recruits. This first recruit class represents a positive step in the effort to close the permanent vacancy gap created by ongoing attrition, as approximately 10 Department members retire per month.  

According to the Department’s Member Tracking System, since July 1, 2008, the LAFD has seen 726 sworn members depart its ranks. It is expected that while routine vacancies will continue to occur, the ongoing hiring of new firefighters will help alleviate the need for such significant reliance on overtime staffing

---------------------------------------------

No comments:

Post a Comment

CAL FIRE NEWS LOVES COMMENTS...
- Due to rampant abuse, we are no longer posting anonymous comments. Please use your real OpenID, Google, Yahoo, AIM, Twitter, Flickr name.


Twitter Buttons

****REMINDER**** Every fire has the ability to be catastrophic. The wildland fire management environment has profoundly changed. Growing numbers of communities, across the nation, are experiencing longer fire seasons; more frequent, bigger, and more severe, fires are a real threat. Be careful with all campfires and equipment.

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer." --Abraham Lincoln

View blog top tags
---------------------
CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO TOP OF CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS HOME PAGE

Subscribe via email to California Fire News - Keep track of Cal Fire News

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner