• On Jan. 6, 2022, Fire Captains Andrew Olvera and Robert Weaver, and Firefighter Robert Currier, entered a Rancho Palos Verdes home engulfed in flames to rescue a fellow firefighter who was trapped inside.
• On March 19, 2022, Firefighters Burnett Burton, Erin Mathews, and Jackson Reich worked quickly to save the lives of six patients trapped in a downed helicopter that was precariously situated on Highway 39.
• On Nov. 9, 2022, “with seconds to spare,” Firefighters Jonathan Barton and Mathew Smith located and rescued an elderly person who was trapped in a fast-burning Lancaster home fire.

FFT - FSA Hiring Issue 

The Local wants to thank Fire Chief Marrone for his swift and collaborative actions to reset our hiring list to work on Class 170 and any future classes before we terminate this list.  After meeting with Local 1014 and reviewing the issue of the FSAs we represent who were hired off the FFT list and left behind as the list expired, Chief Marrone agreed with our facts and worked to reinstate the hiring list temporarily to reconsider both FSAs hired from the FFT list and other potential candidates who were in process to put together a few recruit academies. We successfully have realized conditional job offers to our represented members.  Good luck to all, and thank you to Chief Marrone for your work with the Local to solve a problem. 

In addition to resolving the issue at hand, we now have at least two or three classes of time to finish with the Department, Union, and CEO evaluation of the FCTC for the written portion of our hiring process and any changes to bring back oral interviews and other criteria. This will help ensure not only diversity in our hiring but also a quality of candidate based on performance and achievement that we can all be proud of and support.  As we continue the work to get the entry-level hiring process in shape we also are working with Chief Marrone and his staff to clean up our drill tower process.  

We continue to be developed and negotiated to be put in place everything from a BEEP test to pre-qualify to enter the tower to standards for injury and evaluation of standing in class relative to the opportunity to be granted another attempt to complete the tower with additional BEEP test and the requirement to complete a tower irrespective of injury or issue within one year of your final offer and more.  We are moving in the right direction, including a valid process for evaluating any “recruit complaint” relative to the tower's discharge and/or testing.  This issue is important not only for the quality of the candidate that passes the tower or is granted another try after an injury, but also important to the Training Staff who works so hard with professional criteria and accreditation of the system to get this work done.  We have supported our training staff and continue to work with them to address the failures of the past administration but also the future of the system with their input.  We will provide more updates as we continue to evolve this process through negotiations with the Fire Chief and the County.  

Local 1014 Member Advocacy and Legislative Work  

Local 1014 continues to work on a series of state laws to benefit our members. One such bill is SB 623 which seeks to extend our PTSI presumption sunset to 7 years as we continue to collect data and work to make this permanent, and also to add public safety service dispatchers to the PTSI law.  Our own Cerena Lewis, a dispatcher who has testified twice, in Sacramento, on our behalf, will be joining Director Jason Cervantes and our RTW section led by Chief Gunther to evaluate and give input on the law as amended to capture our needs for the state and LA County Firefighters and Dispatchers.  Hearings are conducted to take our official input. Committee work is in play to craft amendments and data correlation to earn votes in the assembly and the senate.  Thank you to Cerena Lewis, Jason Cervantes, and Chief Gunther for our efforts.  

Additionally, Dispatcher Lewis was appointed to the State 988 Committee to help develop operational guidelines for the alternative dispatch number for behavioral health and suicide calls with our input.  We are proud to have her representing Local 1014 in our efforts to craft a system that works well and integrates into 911 properly.  Special thanks to Chief Eleni Papas for working side by side with Local 1014 and bringing the voice of not only the Local but the Department together and into the halls of the Capitol and the legislature as we work with others in our profession to craft the workings of 988.