L.A. firefighters protest cuts
Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 05/13/2011 09:17:16 PM PDT
More than 150 Los Angeles city firefighters and community leaders marched to City Hall and attend the council meeting to call on the council to stop a staffing proposal that would eliminate 18 fire companies and four ambulances. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News)
More than 100 off-duty Los Angeles firefighters marched to City Hall on Friday in protest of a new deployment plan that would save the city $54 million but which they contend would also endanger lives.
The new deployment plan would take various firefighting resources out of service, though it would boost the department's medical response capabilities.
The firefighters union claims it would endanger the public by reducing the department's ability to respond quickly to fires.
"No one knows better the budget crisis we are in than firefighters," said Pat McOsker, president of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City. "We have risked our lives for the city. We are not abandoning places like Porter Ranch and the Pacific Palisades without a fight."
The debate over the fire budget raged even as the entire $6.9 billion city budget was formally presented to the City Council on Friday, with full discussions and votes expected Wednesday.
Firefighters have been working to drum up public opposition to the LAFD element of the budget proposal.
But some city officials defended the plan as the best way to deal with budget shortfalls and praised Fire Chief Millage Peaks for rethinking his agency's deployment.
"We have asked the last three fire chiefs to come up with a modern deployment plan, and this chief is the first one to do so," said Councilman Bernard Parks, a former police chief who now heads the council's budget committee.
To defend his plan, Peaks put out a 10-point memo to counter the firefighter union's claims regarding delayed response time, closure of stations and the unavailability of service.
"The new deployment plan does not close any of our 106 fire stations," Assistant Chief of Staff Frank Cummings told the City Council. "We have matched deployment to meet the needs of the city."
Cummings said the new plan will restore four of the 22 fire engines now being taken out of service on a rotating basis throughout the city and will increase emergency medical calls.
Also, he said, the new plan will create task forces of units available to respond to emergencies.
But some city officials along with Assemblyman Warren Furutani, D-Long Beach, protested plans to reduce service in the station serving the Los Angeles Port, calling it a threat to national security.
Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who also represents the area, agreed with him.
"Here's the problem I have: Fire Station 38 is next to the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach and serves Wilmington, which lies above more pipelines than any other part of the city," Hahn said. "We have the refineries there. A real disaster, man-made or natural, could occur at any moment."
Councilman Paul Koretz said he remained troubled over reductions to the Fire Department.
"When I was first elected, and it angered a lot of people here, I said I would never vote for a budget that could result in the death of anyone," Koretz said. "I still feel that same way."
City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said the new deployment plan is needed to reflect the city's financial realities
Deployment of firefighters is only one of the issues the council will need to deal with in next week's discussions.
As part of the budget deliberations, the Budget and Finance Committee proposed eliminating plans to take out a $42.6 million loan. To make up that revenue, however, they proposed asking police officers to agree to six furlough days after Jan. 1.
"Has the committee forgotten that we are already putting 540 police officers on forced time-off to avoid paying them overtime?" the Los Angeles Police Protective League said in a statement.
"On top of this, 154 officers are filling critical civilian positions, and at least 60 more are working at the jail to fill in for detention officers the city won't hire. This dramatically impacts the LAPD's ability to respond to calls and keep crime down."
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