By Jaymes Butler, City Director

Local 522 is at war with the City of Sacramento and the City Manager over fair wages, benefits and working conditions. The gurgling sound that you hear is our Department going down the drain, so I’m calling on every chief of the Sacramento Fire Department. I’m calling upon your pride, honor and integrity. If you stand for nothing you’ll fall for anything. I realize you are at-will employees and you are paid based on performance, the means to keep you towing the company line, but the company line is destroying the Department. I know all of you can see it crumbling around you. It’s time to step up and tell the City Manager enough is enough. What is he going to do? Fire all of you! I would love to see him try that. How would that look for him to the city council and/or the public?

Operations:

The Department is unable to staff its stations due to the inability to recruit and retain firefighters due to poor wages and benefits even though the City testified under oath that there was no such problem. The department is 50–75 people short depending on who you talk to with possibly up to 40 people going through Roseville’s hiring process. I don’t blame them, it appears the city of Sacramento doesn’t care about them or their families or the service to the citizens, and the only thing they care about is the bottom line. The city testified that it runs the Department short and puts the savings back into the general fund. The Department’s budget has only gone up 2.9% over the past three years, so where has all the money gone? Why stay with Sacramento Fire Department when you can go across town, make $1,000/month more, not get beat up running calls all night, ride in new equipment but most importantly be valued as a person and an employee.

Support:

The Department needs new equipment. Truck 10 and Engine 15 are in the shop more than they are in service. All the Westates in the fleet ride so bad that I’m surprised there aren’t firefighters suffering from shaken baby syndrome. We have had back and neck injuries due to the Westates, not to mention the inconsistent pump procedure from one Westate to another, that is, if they go into pump at all. The medic units are falling apart with only one on order for next year. We are not able to put flex units into service because of the amount of time the frontline medics spend in the shop. The reserve apparatus are in even worse shape.

The Department has fire stations that are flea, ant, frog, mouse and cockroach infested. Some fire stations are so small that the equipment has to either be modified or special ordered to fit in them. We have fire stations that are designated historical buildings and don’t meet the OSHA regulations i.e., no women’s facilities and I’m sure through an audit we would find many more violations. The new fire stations are one to two years behind schedule and over budget. The contractors have sworn never to work with the City again. I know how they feel!

Training:

The Department has a $25,000 training budget, which is embarrassing for a department of this size. The JACS program is in place to supplement the training budget not to be the training budget. All the training and academy positions should be FTE’s. The inability to get the line to volunteer and/or support the training division and the academy comes from the simple fact that there is no commitment. What do you expect from the rank and file if training isn’t valued from the top?

EMS:

The Department has two medics with over 6,000 calls a year, two others that run over 5,500 calls a year and every other medic in the city well over the NFPA recommended 3,000 calls a year. The medic program is very healthy, making $3.5 million last year alone with an unreserved fund balance of $14.3 million. The Department should be able to put three medics into service tomorrow. The guys on the medic are the least senior with the least voice on the Department. It’s our job to speak for them and be their advocate. They are being run into the ground and the city is making money on their backs. What will be the feeling if something tragic happens when improvements could have been made?

Special Operations:

The Department is trying to run it’s special operations program on a shoestring budget. The haz-mat program is to the point where it is unfixable with its current restraints so it needs to be opened up. The Department needs to put on haz-mat classes and train its work force but it hasn’t because of cost. Special operations incentives and training should be given with no restrictions. The special operations staff is overworked and needs assistance. The city has the means to make it a successful program but it’s not a priority so surely it will fail.

I’m calling out to every chief of the Sacramento Fire Department to stand, unite and be counted. Local 522 has more than proven that the city has the money but they still refuse to do what’s right. It comes down to a battle of wills and the City Manager’s ability to keep us divided while the Department falls apart. The 10 years I have been on the Department have been among the worst years in our Department’s history. We may be labeled labor and management but we all wear the badge over our hearts and the patch on our shoulders of the Sacramento Fire Department. We all took the oath to serve and protect including the City Manager and the members of the City Council, but we are the only ones upholding our part of the oath. The next time an engine breaks down at a fire, or houses burn down in an area that has no fire coverage (west of I-5), a chief doesn’t have to fall on the sword by himself for the good of the Department. I promise that Local 522 will be there to stand beside you.