Friday Update 6-3-22
Updated On: Jul 01, 2022


 


Sisters and Brothers,

Today we all need a break.  Thank you to everyone who made it to the service at Station 104 to break bread and heal. We have had a hard year and an even more difficult last couple of years with our LODDs, Covid, the mandate, staffing shortages, “I” issues, budget issues and a leadership vacuum during it all. But we have stood together and gotten it done. We have served with honor and skill.

This week, we are reminding our members that we are the number one tool on the engines, trucks, helicopters and dispatch consoles. It is us, LA County Firefighters, who need maintenance and care. So this weekend, “Start where you stand.” 

We have been through a lot but we have tools to take care of each other, to maintain work-life balance, to make our stations a place where we find the strength of each other in all we do.

While the 30,000 ft issues and items will be and are being dealt with, “start where you stand” today with your crews. If you are a BC or AC, provide the time and the priority to your troops to use these tools to come together and to fend off the negative top-end influence. Take care of the men and women handling that work.  

If you are a Captain, YOU control your station and tone of each and every shift.  Line up should start with asking how each and every member of your fire family crew is doing, how their home life is, and how they are doing.  As consistently as we check the oil, batteries, and fuel in our apparatus and equipment, we should check the batteries and the life levels of our people.

Set the tone that you control the station and the positive energy that, when done right, leaves us with bellies sore from laughing, minds rich from training, and pride together in a job well done each shift. You do not need to ask for permission to do this! If you are the strawboss bring back the days that set up our firefighters and the station for success. 

If you are the senior Firefighter, lead by example and set the bar high, show the new kids the unwritten but so critical and traditional roles and responsibilities. Get in early, make the coffee, go available for the folks in your house to get off work as they will for you, jump on the chores, tackle extra station projects without being asked, be prepared to meet the mission both personally and as a member of the amazing team in your station. 

We see this in many stations and sites each and every day.  We have amazing Battalion Chiefs, Captains, Strawbosses, Senior Firefighters, and yes amazing new young Firefighters who show up to play each and every shift.  We also have a keyboard warrior component of our Department just like in society, we have a small number of our members and the chiefs who see the glass half empty each shift. This small but now vocal component of any organization is a cancer that seeks to divide and wear us all down. Let’s work to make every station a place where we can lean into each other and on each other while the bigger issues continue to be addressed formally.


Start where you stand. We got this! We got each other, solidarity and strength in service to our communities and each other. 

Visit the website for PEER support resources in case you or someone on your crew might need that PEER to PEER help.  We all benefit from each other’s experiences. You are not alone. 

Have a great weekend as we continue to reflect on those we have lost this past year.  It is a serious time in our Department and we will all need to work together to stand up strong and find the forward path to greatness we all know and love for our Department. COUNTY!  LOCAL 1014 STRONG!

In Solidarity, 

President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board 

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