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Brothers and Sisters,
Our thoughts and prayers go out to our brothers and sisters in Newark and the Newark Firefighters Union as they mourn the loss of Augusto Acabou, 45, and Wayne Brooks Jr., 49 who were killed in a two-alarm fire on July 5th. Please take a moment of silence and send your thoughts and your prayers, and your solidarity to the brothers who died in New Jersey fighting a difficult shipboard fire on the upper decks of a massive cargo ship.
Multiple line-of-duty deaths are hard on our profession. We will keep you informed on relief efforts to help the families and the community as they become available. |
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Contract Cities - Fire Station 193 and La Habra
Last week, we spoke of El Monte and our efforts to ensure that a fire station was not closed, and our support from the city council we helped to elect to hear our situation and step in to help us. This week we continue to work with contract cities to resolve budget issues and ensure that our Fire District contracts with service levels that are supported at appropriate rates and numbers of members serving the communities.
While we are working with all the contract cities, the next two to three weeks will be focused on the City of La Habra. La Habra is having some structural deficit issues that are real math, not politics, and also the Department is trying to rectify lower rates and fair and equitable cost-share arrangements for service in and out of La Habra. The rates of La Habra have not been addressed by the Department in some time. The rates of all the contract cities need attention while at the same time, the Department has failed to account in detail for what all charges are. With new leadership in Chief Marrone, we look forward to a different approach to the fee-for-service contract cities to bring stability and sustainability for all those contracts. As of now, however, the Department’s plan had been to sever the relationship with La Habra if they could not pony up over $7 million of increased cost. The Department would have to notify La Habra one year in advance to sever the contract.
We are happy to report that the plan to sever the relationship has taken a back seat to more fruitful discussions and negotiations to try and close the gap in funding while also understanding that, in large part, the deficit in the contract was caused by our lack of attention to periodic and incremental increases in the contract that can run no greater than 4.5% each year. We are working with an amazing City Council and community who love County Fire service and want to keep our contract in place.
The Department is proposing closing Fire Station 193 and some other cost-share arrangements to cover the gap. Local 1014 will be helping both the Department and the City to close that gap with funding from Safer Act Grants, shared cost, and or carry back where we can appropriately figure that out and ink those solutions.
We will be working over the next two weeks to find a way to keep all resources in place and not only save the jobs from one station but also the service to our true partners - the community of La Habra. Stay tuned as we work to get this worked out. Again the power of political action in play to elect city council members who are in alignment with and support our Department and our members.
New Captains
Congratulations to the newest round of Captains getting ready to start their Captains Academy! The Captains Academy is a Local 1014 fought for training for our members to ensure they have the skills and training to hit the streets running in the important job of Fire Captain and front-line first-line leader. These newly promoted Captains will not only be serving the public in the stations but also will be placed based on data to help relieve staffing shortages due to injury and vacancies.
We have always advocated and pushed the Department to promote to all vacancies and use promotees in long-term vacancies after 45 days or by mutual agreement to fill the gaps. Thanks again to all who took the time and effort to prepare and compete to earn the right to serve as an LA County Fire Captain, and thanks for helping staff the future of the Captains seats on our rigs! Go COUNTY!
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We hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. Our team of Executive Board members were not only handling Union work but also in the field handling calls. President Gillotte, Vice President Carcioppolo, and Director Cash worked on strike teams and engines that ultimately ended up on the Peter Incident and planned need staffing in Palmdale and Lancaster.
Our Union, unlike any other, has our Board working in the field and always had, mostly at busy stations and on strike teams and subject to recall just like everyone else. This gives a unique insight into what we do because we never stop doing it. What an amazing job all did keeping the hundreds of grass fires and impingement on structures down to a low roar. The capabilities of our engines, crews, dispatchers, camps, air operations, and more were on display on the 3rd and 4th limiting any damage and destruction as we protected our communities and the houses and businesses we serve. Great work! |
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On July 6th, Sally Ortega hung up her coat for the last time. She has served the wonderful residents of our great county for over 28 years with pride and dedication like no one else on this job. Sally was the first Hispanic female to become a Firefighter in our Department. She is a shining example for women in the fire service and a role model for all.
“Sally and I met in the FSA academy in 1999,” said 1014 Director Mike Cash. “She has always had my back and always had the strength to keep all of us in line. Sally is and was a leader for our Department, she broke through every barrier and became what she always was meant to be, a Bear wearing badass firefighter.” |
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REMINDER: MENTAL HEALTH SURVEY
We are encouraging our members, along with LACOLA lifeguard members, to help us by helping collect data which will help give an accurate picture of the mental and behavioral stressors in our job. Conducted by one of our own Paige Parker (Ocean Lifeguard), this survey will help provide valuable information about the nature of first responder work, the stressors you encounter on the job, and possible sources of resilience.
Over 140 members have taken the survey so far, we would like to double that number. The survey and the research will be entirely and private and confidential and will not be shared with anyone.
To participate in the study, you must be:
- An active-duty, sworn, full-time firefighter or lifeguard
- Working for Los Angeles County Fire Department
- Holding a current EMT or Paramedic Certification
- Participation is voluntary and completely confidential
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Please do not hesitate to contact Paige Parker (310) 872-8183 or via email at Paige.parker@pepperdine.edu if you have any questions. |
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REMINDER: We are calling on local artists and those in our fire family to submit proposals for a permanent art installation to be installed at Station 81. This art installation is meant to not only provide a remembrance site for our Brother Tory Carlon, but also provide a place of healing for those most impacted by this incident and a reminder of the importance of our Fire Family and behavioral health in the fire service.
The art project will be installed at LACoFD Station 81 in Agua Dulce. The project must provide 1) a memorial and remembrance for Brother Tory Carlon, 2) emphasize the importance of our Fire Family and 3) provide a reflective space that emphasizes the importance of behavioral health in the fire service.
While we will be accepting submissions from the local community, we will give preference to members of our Fire Family who submit projects.
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In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board |
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