We hope you are enjoying your summer so far. Summer is the best time of year to take family vacations and enjoy the outdoors. We want to remind you, as we always do, to remember to not drink and drive.

We are always asked "why do you keep making that statement"? The reason is it keeps happening. It’s not just about your career, if you drink and drive, it is about the safety of others and yourself if your judgment is impaired. We go on incidents all to often where someone was driving after having a few drinks and people get hurt and/or killed because that person didn’t have a designated driver, didn’t think they were that bad so they didn’t need a taxi, or just felt that getting a hotel wasn’t a good idea.

Think about it and have a plan before you go out on a warm summer night to enjoy friends and family.

Your board is very busy handling the business of the local. We have many balls in the air right now and your executive board is doing a good job at sharing the workload with each other to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

Some big issues we are working on right now are the attacks we are taking from all sides. If you have been on another planet lately and may not have noticed we are being attacked by politicians, citizens and even our family and friends are out to take away our rights, pensions and collective bargaining. This is not just happening in one or 2 states somewhere else in our Country, it’s happening right here in our own neighborhood.

At the state level there are multiple initiatives in the process to alter many things we have negotiated. There is legislation crafted to take things away from us as well as funds for our department. These attacks will not stop. Your board is working hard with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) to put a stop to these.

Look around at the other fire departments within our County and you will see firefighters losing wages and healthcare benefits, in addition the pensions of future firefighters are being seriously altered.

We are currently in the process of putting together our 1014 update to provide everyone information about these items and more. In the meantime we suggest you follow this link to the CPF for updated, statewide information.

We have some monumental issues forthcoming which will require us to sound the alarm for everyone’s help. Please make sure to monitor the 1014 website, as well as log onto the CPF and International Association of Firefighters websites to get the latest information on what is happening locally, statewide and nationally in regards to our profession.

If you have any question please do not hesitate to contact any of your board members or call the office directly.

Have a safe and happy summer.

Your 1014 Executive Board