By Adam Van GerpenFire Station 75 “A” PlatoonThe members of the Los An-

geles City Fire Department Fam-ily would like to thank the familyof our John E. Lawrence forsharing him with us for nearly 35years. He was more than a leader,a mentor, and a teacher. He wasour friend. He always led by ex-ample, took care of his crew, andput family first. John set the stan-dard for others to follow and in-stilled in each of us a desire to putothers first and do all we can foreach other.

John is among a rare breedwho is respected and admiredby all who came in contact withhim. He is a person who hasdone more for the communitythan most of us could onlydream of doing. He has left alasting impression on us that wewill never forget.

LAFD will never be the samewithout John but he has ensuredthe core values of the Fire De-partment family, and the corevalues of John Lawrence willcontinue on.

It only seems appropriate that

John’s crew was with him untilthe end. We can think of nogreater honor than responding toassist John and give his family achance to say goodbye. We willforever be in debt to JohnLawrence for all he has given us.

The bond between theLawrence family and the LAFDfamily has always been strongbut we are now stronger thanever and we will always bethere for you. Thank you forsharing your John with theworld. The world is a betterplace because John was in it.

John Lawrence was morethan just a Captain II at Fire

Station 75; he was our friendand a father figure. It was anunimaginable experience to re-spond a mile away from our sta-tion and work-up a Full Arrestwhen the patient is part of yourfamily.

All of the members on scenewere grateful that they were theones who responded becausethey know in their hearts that hegot the best care possible andthat nothing else could havebeen done. The outpouring ofsupport from the Fire Depart-ment family, the Holy CrossHospital family, and John’s

By David PimentleSecretary

It is with a heavy heart broth-ers and sisters that I write thisintroduction about anotherLAFD legend that has passed.Captain John Lawrence was notonly an Officer on this Depart-ment, he was a true gentleman.

He was a leader who chose tolead by example rather thenthrough discipline.

He was not only our brother,but for many including me, hewas a father figure too. Youworked hard for John, becausehe always worked hard for you.You aspired to do things the

right way when you werearound John, because you knewthat’s what he would do.

He was more then just doingit “by the book”. Anyone cando that. He was about doing itfor the right reason. He in-stilled values and a strongwork ethic in all the members

who worked with him. I sayworked “with him”, becauseJohn never wanted you to work“for him”.

He was never afraid to roll uphis sleeves and get dirty withthe crew. That was his charac-ter. Always a smile on his face,a joke at the ready, giving ad-

vice, or just listening. That waswho he was and how he’ll be re-membered. Thank you John, forbeing my friend and my mentor.

Please read the following arti-cle by Brother Adam Van Ger-pen, who had the pleasure ofworking with John at his last as-signment.

VOL. 47, NO. 2 March/April 2008

The

Los Angeles FirefighterOfficial Publication of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City—Local 112, IAFF, AFL-CIO-CLC

www.uflac.org

The Los Angeles Firefighter1571 Beverly Boulevard

Los Angeles, California 90026(#ISSN01907573)

March/April 2009

PERIODICALPostage Paid

atLos Angeles, CA

In This Issue . . .Article Page(s)In Memoriam – John E. Lawrence – LODD. . . . . . . . 1, 6, 7Australia Fire Policy Proves Deadly. . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 10, 12“The Union Never Gives Up on Its Members”. . . . . . . . . . 2Officer Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 5, 8President’s Report – LAFD Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Search and Rescue K9’s – Invaluable Resource . . . . . . . . . 4Why Stronger Unions Can Help Us Out of This Mess . . . . 5Your Health – Meet the Founder of Health View . . . . . . . . 8The Proposed McCauley Initiative Measure. . . . . . . . . . . . 9Union Heroes Save Passengers on US Airways Flight. . . . 9Mail Bag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10LAFD and LAPD St. Baldrick’s Fund Drive . . . . . . . . . . 12

LAFD Truck Company 98 ventilates a well involved house and garage fire at 10987 Ludding-ton in Sun Valley. First arriving units found a well involved garage with extension into the atticof a residential board and care home for disabled persons. Aggressive interior attack and ven-tilation took place with knock down in approximately 30 minutes. Firefighters rescued twodogs at this incident. Photo and information by Jeff Zimmerman, EPN

Remembering our brother and dear friend…

Captain II John E. Lawrence Continued on page 7

“Stay and Defend”…

Australia’s Fire Policy Proves DeadlyIn February, brush fires of his-

toric proportions swept acrossAustralia, devouring 740,000acres and destroying over 900homes. High winds, low humid-ity and punishing heat created aperfect storm of erratic firebehavior that ravaged the south-eastern part of the island nation.Most of the destruction took

place in the Province of Victoria.Out-of-control blazes causedunprecedented property loss, butthe real tragedy in these Aus-tralian fires was the unnecessaryloss of human life. As of now,officials have counted at least200 civilians among the dead.Most of the dead had intended tostay in their homes to defend

against the oncoming fire, butwere shocked by the intensity ofthe blazes and tried to flee at thelast minute. Dozens upon dozensof citizens burned to death intheir automobiles, many ofwhich were piled up in collisionson narrow canyon roads.

In the wake of these tragicevents, Australian authorities

are promising to review a policythat began in the 1990’s, called“Leave Early or Stay andDefend”. The policy (usuallyreferred to more succinctly asStay and Defend) was devel-oped by fire officials as a way toutilize homeowners to help pro-tect structures during brushfires. Through the Stay and

Defend program, thousands ofAustralians were trained toremain behind when brush firesadvance on their neighbor-hoods, to prepare their homesand themselves, and to fightback against flames and embersusing garden hoses, mops andbuckets. Now, in light of the

Another LAFD Hero Passes…

Active Duty Captain II John Lawrence

Continued on page 12

Page 2 Los Angeles Firefighter March/April 2009

Words to the Wise, not so Wise and those In-Between

By Frank Lima2nd Vice President

Uniform OfficersThis topic falls under the

Leadership category. Unfortu-nately the LAFD has high rank-ing Chief Officers who fall backon one thing, uniforms. Yes uni-forms are important and ab-solutely required in ourorganization; they show profes-sionalism when at the scene ofemergency and non-emergencyincidents, and look sharp whenfirefighters are out in the pub-lic’s eye.

It is just very frustrating whena Chief Officer has very littlefire ground knowledge and/orexperience to offer to their sub-ordinate commands and try tocover-up their inadequacies bydiverting to mundane issues.

We want to be directed bycompetent leaders. When an of-ficer has little to offer and does-n’t know how to teach their

commands due to his/her lackof operational experience, theyseem to fall back on nit-pickingissues…uniforms being one ofthem.

To all of our Captains and fu-ture Chief Officers out there, re-member to spend more timetrying to teach firefighter sur-vival to your commands thantrying to enforce the uniformpolicy. It’s like being a “garri-son trooper” in the military…anyone can have shiny floorsand highly polished door knobsin their barracks, but what reallycounts is having a well trainedcompany who are knowledge-able in the field and can fulfilltheir principle duties of battle-field tactics and survival. Morelives will be saved, the troopswill respect you more, andmorale will be much higher.

Internal Affairs Investigations

The Professional StandardsDivision (P.S.D.) has routinelysaid prior to going on taperecording in an interrogation,“This is going to be simple”, or“This is a painless interview”,etc.

When acting as the DefenseRepresentative, I often respondby saying “Great, if this is sim-ple or painless, then we do nothave to tape record the proceed-ing, threaten anybody with dis-

cipline, or you don’t have togive my member a direct orderto answer questions”.

The simple presence of aunion representative helps toensure fairness in the process.With our new Firefighter Bill ofRights, times have changed andthe old school LAFD disciplineprocess of ‘Ready, Shoot, Aim’is over. It is a continual battlebecause the members assignedto P.S.D. are inexperienced (nottheir fault) and often times lessknowledgeable then the UnionRepresentatives.

The Department feels that ifthey take money punitivelyfrom a members pocket duringa suspension without pay, thenthe member will not “do thewrong thing” again. What hap-pened to the “positive training”lessons officers learned incharm school?” Remember,that’s when you counsel andtrain the employee before aproblem gets out of hand.

Counseling sessions workwonderfully, do not require aunion rep and often correct be-havior. Unfortunately those arethings of the past due to the Pro-fessional Standards Divisionwanting to know everything.

Remember These Tips:• Never waive your rights, al-

ways invoke your rights; bettersafe than sorry.

• Witnesses: The Departmentoften says “you are just a wit-ness, you do not need represen-tation”. Remember even as awitness you are entitled to rep-resentation if it is your beliefthat discipline can occur.

• “Painless”, “Simple Inter-views” and compelled interro-gations do not go together.

• If you’re going to do it(something bad) don’t worry; Ifyou’re going to worry, don’t doit.

• If you are ordered to write areport that could lead to disci-pline, you are entitled to repre-sentation.

• Questioning needs to staywithin the nature of the interro-gation…“fishing” is not allowed.

• Be a custodian of your ownrecords and check your person-nel file while on duty.

SAFETYElectrical hazard incidents are

not a call to get complacent on.Wires down are a dangerous sit-uation, especially at night. Nor-mally we rush into fires with aninterior attack on the seat of thefire. We need to downshift gearsa little and make sure we do notrush into a dangerous situationwhere electrical hazards presentthemselves. Many of the newerneighborhoods have under-ground services. However, themajority of Los Angeles has an

old infrastructure with overheadhigh voltage wires everywhere.

Not long ago, the LAFD ex-perienced a situation where aCaptain almost died on an aerialladder. The Captain got tangledup on the power line and hisSCBA bottle while attemptingto gain access to the roof. Thinkabout your aerial spots andthreading the needle…is it totight? Is it worth the risk? It wasa heroic rescue to save his life.

As a union official I like to re-port on safety issues because itaffects your working condi-tions. We must learn from pasthistory or it repeats itself.

Electrical hazards are presentin several situations when werespond. A traffic accident intoa power pole or street light, highwinds with wires down on topof chain link fences, etc. Makesure you get the power shut offat the panel or cut as soon aspossible when rolling on thescene of an attic fire. To extin-guish attic fires correctly fire-fighters must get into the atticand squirt horizontally. Salvageand utilities are priorities atthese fires.

Just thought it would be agood topic for all of you tobring to the kitchen table anddiscuss with the crew.

Please be safe out there, andGod Bless our troops and fallenfirefighters.

“The Union Never Gives Up on Its Members”By Frank Lima

2nd Vice PresidentLocal 112 enjoys being able

to Arbitrate discipline, a rightfought for and negotiated yearsback by UFLAC’s founding fa-thers. What does this mean? Itmeans that the Departments de-cision in discipline is not thelast say. We can have an outsideneutral party look at our disci-pline issues from an unbiasedpoint of view, and the Union hasa phenomenal record whenmaking a presentation in frontof an Arbitrator.

The one negative thing can bethe time it takes until final reso-lution. Grievances that lead toArbitration (if not settledwithin) take time…sometimesmonths and sometimes years.

I have a report of a case thatwas recently settled in Media-tion just prior to the beginningof Arbitration. The case was a120 day suspension (41 - twentyfour hour shifts) without pay forCaptain II Robert McMaster(now retired). McMaster wasgiven a heavy handed suspen-sion in a Board of Rights Hear-ing in front of a panel of threeChief Officers (randomlypicked…and like poker, some-times you get terrible hands).

McMaster, a fine Truck Offi-cer was a 34-year veteran whohad received a Medal of Valorfor heroism by Chief Barry inhis last year on the job. Mc-Master had never served even aday of suspension in his longand heralded career.

The 120 day suspension wasfor supposedly being insubordi-

nate to a Chief Officer for notchanging an evaluation for aprobationary Firefighter. Thecase was really about a Captainsfrustration for his CommandingChief Officer not listening to hisadvice and multiple requests forhelp. The defense (the Union)was hand-cuffed in trying to puton a fair and objective defensedue to a lack of knowledge ofthe system by the Chiefs on theBoard.

McMaster retired one monthafter his 120 day suspension, aterrible way to go after such anhonorable career. Big Thanksgo out to Chief’s Barry (FireChief) and Palacios (the Em-ployee Relations Officer) forhelping settle this case.

This proves that the Union’spersistence and knowledge ofthe LAFD Rules and Regula-tions (and common sense), inaddition to a good labor/man-agement relationship, makesgood things happen.

The Union never gives upon its members…even

after retirement!The suspension was handed

to McMaster in 2007 and took alittle bit more than a year to set-tle. It was a great pleasure de-livering the settlement check toRobert McMaster, along withmy 10-year-old daughter (whois a big help to UFLAC)…itbrought him much needed clo-sure.

I’m writing about this to letour members know what yourUnion does for you. Manysenseless cases have been set-tled in our memberships favor,but the past union leadershipdidn’t want those resultsprinted.

Also, those of us who serve asUnion Rep’s want a well-disci-plined Fire Department morethan anybody. At no pointwould I ever hint at being in-subordinate to a CommandingChief Officer, and I want tomake that very clear.

The Union simply wants a fairdiscipline system. The Unionwill not tolerate the Departmentbullying and/or retaliatingagainst one of our members.

The Union doesn’t want tofight, but we sure as hell are notafraid to fight for fairness andthe rights of our membership.

This case was defended andsettled by the team of AttorneyRobert Rico and myself, as theUnion representative. Therewere many long days of wit-ness, and document prep,studying, logistics, etc. This ar-ticle is intended to be a nameclearing “dignity update” forMcMaster, and recognition ofanother Arbitration victory forUFLAC.

I had a lot of hope as wewaited for the decision in Mc-Master’s case. The 120 day sus-pension really hurt theMcMaster family, and bottomline, it was unjust. Hope wasnever lost by your union…I’dlike to leave on this inspiringquote of hope:

“Hope works in these ways: itlooks for the good in people in-stead of harping on the worst; itdiscovers what can be done in-stead of grumbling about whatcannot; it regards problems,large or small, as opportunities;it pushes ahead when it wouldbe easy to quit; it “lights thecandle” instead of “cursing thedarkness”

…AnonymousGood luck in your retirement

Robert McMaster and thankyou for your 34 years of serviceto the citizens of Los Angeles,and the integrity that you dis-played throughout your careerto your fellow members of theLAFD.

Robert Rico (attorney), Robert McMaster, and Frank Lima.Photo by Jim Perry

It seems like I’ve been hear-ing, “next year’s budget is goingto be a tough one” ever since Ifirst got involved with thisunion 12 years ago. Of courseyou never expect to hear, “don’tworry: there’s plenty of moneyto go around” when dealingwith the City, but just the same,you get tired of over-blowndoom and gloom. Well, they’resaying it again right now, butthis time it’s definitely different.The tone of their voices and thelook in their eyes has changed.They clearly believe whatthey’re saying about the nextfiscal year, and I can tell that,this time, they take no pleasurein the words. In fact, I get theimpression that the descriptionof next year’s budget as, “atough one” is purposely under-stated. Even the “bean coun-ters” don’t want to be the bear-ers of news this bad.

Another way they express itis, “next year is going to bemuch worse than this year”.Well I can tell you that this fis-cal year has been no picnic. Wenearly lost 18 emergencyresponder positions a couple ofmonths ago when the Chairmanof the Council’s Budget andFinance Committee was swing-ing the budget axe and theLAFD was nearly hit.

Every City DepartmentThreatened

Every December the Coun-cil’s Budget and Finance Com-mittee goes through a mid-yearexercise. With the help of theCAO’s Office, they look at thestatus of each department’sbudget and examine the City’sover-all financial health. Basedon what they see, they makeadjustments. Departments thatare over budget can expect tolose programs or staffing orboth. Departments that are “per-forming” are usually left alone.With a little luck they mighteven be allowed to add extraprograms or a few positions thathad been put on hold, withfunds from the City’s Unappro-priated Balance Account.

In really bad years when theCity’s over-all budget is out ofwhack, virtually every depart-ment suffers a cut of some mag-nitude, no matter how they areperforming. That was the casethis past December when morethan $80 million was slashedfrom departments in an exerciseeuphemistically called “sweep-ing accounts”. The LAFD was

not overlooked. We were tabbedto give up $3.8 million – thecost of funding 18 EMS DistrictCaptain positions – and told thatthe positions would no longerbe authorized.

Union – Department Management Successfully

Fight Against CutsTogether UFLAC and Fire

Management fought backagainst this cut. Besides beingunwilling to give up emergencyresponders without a fight, wewere also not about to allow theCAO’s Office to portray theLAFD as “over-budget” usingtheir brand of fuzzy math. Wesucceeded in convincing the fullCouncil to refer the issue to thePublic Safety Committee for aproper hearing: one morefocused on the importance ofthe positions rather than just onthe cost. Then UFLAC got towork lobbying. Over a twomonth period we met repeatedlywith every individual whomight affect the outcome.Among them were key CouncilMembers, the Mayor, his Chiefof Staff, his Labor Liaison andthe Deputy Mayor for PublicSafety and Homeland Security.By the time we finished not oneof them was willing to supportelimination of fire departmentemergency responders. Thepositions were saved.

Future Projected as Dismal

But now it’s on to next year.Already the CAO is projectingthat the “structural deficit” forFY 2009/2010 will be at least$433 million. What he means isthat providing the same level ofservice next year would cost theCity $433 million more thanprojected revenues will cover.Needless to say, something hasgot to give.

The reality of these numbersis not lost on Local 112 leader-ship. Even if things aren’t quiteas bad as we’re being told,things are still really, really bad.Nonetheless, we will fight tohang on to every resource thatwe have now. We’ll fight notout of pride or greed, butbecause the people of LosAngeles need us now more thanever. In times of economic crisisthe public relies on, and callson, firefighters and paramedicseven more than they do in nor-mal times.

LAFD firefighters are alreadyseeing upswings in the numbers

of EMS calls and arson fires,and it comes as no surprise. Aspeople lose their health insur-ance and as more homes go intoforeclosure and business close,the strain on our limitedresources is intensifying. Nowis definitely not the time to letanyone strip fire and paramedicprotection away from the peopleof Los Angeles.

By the same token, Local 112does not intend to stand idly byas anyone attacks LAFD com-pany staffing levels or swornpositions assigned to bureausother than BES. There is somehistory here: in the late 1990’s,while Dick Riordan was theMayor of L.A., there were sev-eral attacks on our staffing andsupport functions. They tookthe form of position cuts thatwere less noticeable to the pub-lic than wholesale company clo-sures, and that was no accident.These cuts were perpetrated bycynical leaders in spite of agood economy and adequaterevenues back then. They hap-pened because a mayor disre-spected our work, and becausehe wanted to get his hands onour budget and spend themoney elsewhere.

Riordan’s Raiders Are Back

Riordan’s cuts impacted fire-fighter safety even more thanthey did public safety, and wecannot allow that to happenagain. Several key players fromthe Riordan administration –including the architect of the1990’s attacks on our depart-ment – are back at work for thecurrent Mayor and they arebeginning to whisper already.Rest assured that Local 112 willnot stand by and let anyone putfirefighter lives at greater riskwithout putting them throughthe fight of their lives.

So what do we do? How canwe expect to hang onto theresources we have now in theface of a worsening economyand with powerful City Halldecision makers poised toattack? How can we hope to addthe things we need in the yearsahead – things like workloadrelief companies, additionalOCD staffing and componentsof the 5-year EMS plan – if ourbudget is slashed? These are thechallenges that the UFLACExecutive Board has beenwrestling with for the past cou-ple of months. To address themwe relied on our competitive

natures. We developed a gameplan to deal with these issuesthat puts Local 112 on offenserather than defense.

Preemptive Strike – UnionProposes Ballot MeasureBy the time this article is read,

UFLAC members will alreadyhave voted on whether or not tolaunch our plan to place a meas-ure on the ballot which would, ifpassed, protect current LAFDbudget money and create a newrevenue stream as well. At aSpecial Meeting to be held onFebruary 25th, union memberswill be asked to vote to allocate$75,000 to the first phase of thiseffort. I hope that they will.

If so, by the time you read thiswe will have begun in earnest. Ifthe Executive Board is given the“green light” in February, wewill give the go-ahead to poll-sters who are poised to beginthoroughly researching the atti-tudes of voters toward ourissues. They will ask all of thetough questions that must beanswered before we make spe-cific decisions about our meas-ure. We need to know whichmethod of taxation the public ismost likely to support, andwhich new LAFD programsthey are most willing to fund.Until we know more, all we canpromise for sure is that any bal-lot measure we initiate willbuild a “lockbox” around ourcurrent level of funding and willbring in additional revenue ded-icated to specific new programs.

Other Unions Go Directlyto the Voters

I’d like to say that your Exec-utive Board is the first group tocome up with a plan to protecttheir department by goingdirectly to the voters, but thatwouldn’t be accurate. Actually,our idea is a bit of a copycat. Intruth, we were inspired by twoseparate earlier efforts: byMeasure E, sponsored by theL.A. County Firefighters, Local1014, and by the more recentMeasure B, sponsored by IBEWLocal 18 of the L.A. Depart-ment of Water and Power. Bothof these ballot measures wereenvisioned by union leaderswhose membership was beingnegatively impacted by budgetconstraints.

Measure B will appear on thecitywide March 3rd ballot andhas been called the Solar Initia-tive. Besides being good for theenvironment, it’s also a job-cre-

ator for IBEW-represented elec-tricians. It’s the ultimate win-win for union workers and thepublic they serve. It’s presenceon the ballot is a testament tothe skill of IBEW union leaders,and we hope it passes. The storybehind Measure E is similar, iseven closer to what we are hop-ing to undertake, and is nowmore than a decade old.

During the California realestate downturn of the mid-1990’s, the L.A. County FireDepartment (which is moredependant on property tax rev-enue and transfer fees than theLAFD), went through somehard times. Faced with possiblelayoffs and fire station closures,they came up with a plan andtook it to the voters. The votersresponded. Measure E – whichadded an assessment of about$35 to each homeowner’s prop-erty tax bill – received the2/3rds needed to pass in theCounty and in all 40 contractcities protected by the CountyFire Department. The measurecontained a clause whichallowed for periodic adjust-ments of the amount of theassessment, as necessary.Thanks to Measure E, L.A.County Fire resources were pre-served and their departmentcontinues to survive and thriveeven in the current economicclimate.

The success of IBEW Local18 in getting their measure onthe ballot, and the victory ofL.A. County Firefighters, Local1014 on theirs, should beencouraging to all of us whocare about the LAFD. Thebudget hawks at City Hall areright: these are tough times. Butour work is too important – toocritical to public safety and thepreservation of life and limb –to allow tough times to interferewith what we must do to protectthe people of Los Angeles.Regarding our budget, we canplay defense for the next fewyears and, with a little luck, wemight minimize our losses. Or,we can go on offense. I preferoffense and I hope that you dotoo. In these tough times toomany hard working Angelinosare suffering losses, and theyare counting on us now morethan ever.

March/April 2009 Los Angeles Firefighter Page 3

Report from the PresidentReport from the President

By Pat McOsker

Fraternally,

LAFD Budget…The Times Are Tough –

UFLAC Has a Plan for the Future

Page 4 Los Angeles Firefighter March/April 2009

Search and Rescue K9’s…An Invaluable and Relatively Unknown Resource

By Marcus ToledoLAFD – FS 47 “A”

In recent years the need forhigh tech search equipment hascome to the forefront. With theonslaught of earthquakes, hur-ricanes, building collapses,train derailments and acts ofterrorism, we have come torealize how long it takes tosearch and clear a disaster sitefor victims. This is where wecan quickly implement a pow-erful tool and search thousandsof square feet of varying depthsin a short time without exhaust-ing our manpower.

A search dog has the abilityto search an endless perimeterwhere a person may be trappedunder any type of rubble. Theyare trained to ignore all otherscents and noises, even tempt-ing traces of other animals,food, or the people activelyinvolved in the search.

Able to negotiate unstable,slippery and uneven surfaces,while keeping absolutelyfocused on the job at hand: sav-ing lives, search dogs are askedto perform amazing feats ofcourage, strength and tenacity,requiring high energy and boldabandon!

Disaster canines work in anenvironment different fromother working canines. Theyeasily traverse collapsed struc-tures filled with dust, rebar,splintered wood, broken glass,sharp metal or broken plumb-ing lines. They can climb lad-ders and scale collapsed piles, ajob no untrained canine wouldapproach.

Along with their training,search dogs are motivated bytheir toy. They are absolutelytoy crazy and will traverse any-thing to obtain that toy. Thecanines are always rewarded

for a job well done, be it intraining or during an actualsearch. In instances wherethere is a sustained periodwithout a find, the handlerswill set up a scenario so that thedog can have a successful findand be rewarded. The dogs willgo to any length to earn a toy,be it climbing ladders, walkingover jagged debris or tunnelinginto deep and narrow crevices.

Search dogs are also trainedoff leash, unlike most otherservice dogs that are trained onleash. This enables the canineto navigate the terrain inde-pendently and with confidence.

Search teams have beenaround for many years, butwith the new requirements thatFEMA has instituted, FireDepts. across the country havecome to realize that they didnot have nearly enough teamsto be deployable to nationaldisasters. FEMA is requesting8-12 K9 teams per USAR Taskforce. Our dept, along withmany others, was far below thisrequested standard.

In Jan 2007 I was pickedalong with a colleague tobecome a part of our USARSearch team. From that timeuntil Sept 2007 I attended 90training sessions, comprisingof over 400 hours and 5000miles of travel. I did this inanticipation of receiving adonated, trained search dogfrom a local foundation. Unfor-tunately there were somedelays and it became apparentthat it would be about 18months before we were toreceive our dogs. I was thenintroduced to an extremely suc-cessful trainer/handler thattrains and sells search k9s fromall levels. It was an obviouschoice for me and I chose to

purchase my own dog at thattime. I worked with the K9trainer and her task force foralmost 8 months in twiceweekly sessions for 5-hourintervals. It was an intensetraining program, one that con-tinues to this day.

I then received my K9 Belle,a black lab who was 19 monthsold in Sept of 2007. We tookour first FSA test in Nov 2007and then traveled to Florida inFebruary 2008 to take the CE.This is the test to be nationallycertified by FEMA, allowing aK9 team to be nationallydeployable. We completed thisprocess within 5 months ofbeing paired together. It was amomentous and rewardingtime for both of us!

Since that time we have beenactively deployed locally andnationally while continuing totrain with other task forcesweekly, and then train daily onobedience and focus training.

The sole purpose of an S&RK9 is the detection of livehuman scent amongst varyingforms of rubble. These dogs areunique and have a highsearch/retrieval drive and theythrive on working. They areextremely active, energetic andlove being exposed to new andchallenging scenarios.

Once picked to be a candi-date, these dogs are trained in ahighly rigorous, very specifictraining program for about 6-9months before being pairedwith a qualified handler. Dogsare paired with prospectivehandlers based on the caninesand human’s personality andtraits. This detailed trainingusually costs between$8,000.00- $10,000.00 per dog,which is paid for by the indi-vidual handlers

As a handler, I feel that ingeneral many people bothcivilian and sworn membersneed to be introduced andexposed to this invaluable tool.

Many scenarios have hap-pened recently in our local areawhere we as a team were notcalled upon because of lack ofexposure and knowledge. Themetro link derailment delayedcalling for a team and then wentto an outside agency becausethey weren’t aware that theirown task force had these tools.With a recent building collapsein Los Angeles City there werethree known victims, visibleand able to call out that wererescued by crews, but it remainsunknown whether there wereany trapped victims.

What took the crew hours,

searching and moving rubble,would have taken the K9 min-utes to clear. We can helpdecrease the unnecessary labo-rious work of our crews, searchand pinpoint victims within a 3foot circumference, and allowthem to focus on areas where adog indicated that there waslive human scent.

Canine teams have been usedto respond to numerous disas-ters, having been called uponby agencies across the UnitedStates to serve as first respon-ders to hurricanes, earthquakes,mud slides, train derailmentsand building collapses.

We as a team are ready torespond at a moments’ noticenot only to national disastersbut especially to events occur-ring in our backyard.

Captain Marcus Toledo and his 2-year-old dog “Belle”

So. Pasadena Mayor David Sifuentes…

“UFLAC Member HelpsShape State’s Vision

for Firefighters”

David Sifuentes is a 24 yearLAFD veteran presentlyassigned as a fire captain at firestation 56. He is also an electedofficial for our neighboringtown of South Pasadena. Davidwas elected to South Pasadena’scity council in 2007 and  wasrecently voted by his colleaguesto serve as Mayor.

David serves as the city’srepresentative on the League ofCalifornia Cities and was

recently appointed to serve onthe League’s Public Safety andEmployee Relations Commit-tees…dealing with many facetsof human resource manage-ment, including employee andlabor relations, retirement, andworker’s compensation.

His political/labor experi-ence has already proven ofgreat value in influencing poli-cy for fire and police agenciesstatewide.

David, a former Director ofUnited Firefighters of LosAngeles City, Local 112, IAFF,AFL-CIO-CLC, currentlyserves as a UFLAC trustee andchairs on several committees.

His unselfish and courageouscommitment to whatever jobhe tackles has made him a lead-ing advocate for the uniformedservices.

We congratulate him on hissuccess and wish him the best.

52 Los Angeles firefighters were dispatched to a fire at 4920 Los Feliz Blvd. Firefighters foundheavy fire showing from the front of an approximately 4000 square foot single family dwelling.Two firefighters sustained minor injuries when a portion of the ceiling collapsed on them. Thetwo firefighters were pulled to safety and were treated by paramedics at the scene.

Photos by Mike Meadows, EPN

March/April 2009 Los Angeles Firefighter Page 5

Why Stronger Unions Can Help Us Out of This Mess“America, and its faltering economy, need unions to restore prosperity to the middle class.”

By Robert B. ReichReprinted with the personal

permission of Mr. ReichJanuary 26, 2009

www.RobertReich.orgWhy is this recession so

deep, and what can be done toreverse it?

Hint: Go back about 50years, when America’s middleclass was expanding and theeconomy was soaring. Pay-checks were big enough toallow us to buy all the goodsand services we produced. Itwas a virtuous circle. Good paymeant more purchases, andmore purchases meant morejobs.

At the center of this virtuouscircle were unions. In 1955,more than a third of workingAmericans belonged to one.Unions gave them the bargain-ing leverage they needed to getthe paychecks that kept theeconomy going. So manyAmericans were unionized thatwage agreements spilled overto nonunionized workplaces aswell. Employers knew they hadto match union wages to com-pete for workers and to recruitthe best ones.

Fast forward to a new centu-ry. Now, fewer than 8% of pri-vate-sector workers are union-ized. Corporate opponentsargue that Americans no longerwant unions. But public opin-ion surveys, such as a compre-hensive poll that Peter D. HartResearch Associates conductedin 2006, suggest that a majority

of workers would like to have aunion to bargain for betterwages, benefits and workingconditions. So there must besome other reason for this dra-matic decline.

But put that question asidefor a moment. One point isclear: Smaller numbers ofunionized workers mean lessbargaining power, and less bar-gaining power results in lowerwages.

It’s no wonder middle-classincomes were dropping evenbefore the recession. As oureconomy grew between 2001and the start of 2007, mostAmericans didn’t share in theprosperity. By the time therecession began last year,according to an Economic Pol-icy Institute study, the medianincome of households headedby those under age 65 wasbelow what it was in 2000.

Typical families kept buyingonly by going into debt. Thiswas possible as long as thehousing bubble expanded.Home-equity loans and refi-nancing made up for decliningpaychecks. But that’s over.American families no longerhave the purchasing power tokeep the economy going.Lower paychecks, or no pay-checks at all, mean fewer pur-chases, and fewer purchasesmean fewer jobs.

The way to get the economyback on track is to boost thepurchasing power of the mid-dle class. One major way to dothis is to expand the percentageof working Americans inunions.

Tax rebates won’t workbecause they don’t permanent-ly raise wages. Most familiesused the rebate last year to payoff debt — not a bad thing, butit doesn’t keep the virtuous cir-

cle running.Bank bailouts won’t work

either. Businesses won’t bor-row to expand without con-sumers to buy their goods andservices. And Americans them-selves can’t borrow whenthey’re losing their jobs andtheir incomes are dropping.

Tax cuts for working fami-lies, as President Obamaintends, can do more to helpbecause they extend over time.But only higher wages andbenefits for the middle classwill have a lasting effect.

Unions matter in this equa-tion. According to the Depart-ment of Labor, workers inunions earn 30% higher wages— taking home $863 a week,compared with $663 for thetypical nonunion worker —and are 59% more likely tohave employer-provided healthinsurance than their nonunioncounterparts.

Examples abound. In 2007,nearly 12,000 janitors in Provi-dence, R.I., New Hampshireand Boston, represented by theService Employees Interna-tional Union, won a contractthat raised their wages to $16an hour, guaranteed more workhours and provided familyhealth insurance. In an industrytypically staffed by part-timeworkers with a high turnoverrate, a union contract providedjanitors with full-time, sustain-able jobs that they could counton to raise their families’ —and their communities’ — stan-dard of living.

In August, 65,000 Verizonworkers, represented by theCommunications Workers ofAmerica, won wage increasestotaling nearly 11% and con-verted temporary jobs to full-time status. Not only did thesettlement preserve fully paid

healthcare premiums for allactive and retired unionizedemployees, but Verizon alsoagreed to provide $2 million ayear to fund a collaborativecampaign with its unions toachieve meaningful nationalhealthcare reform.

Although America and itseconomy need unions, it’sbecome nearly impossible foremployees to form one. TheHart poll I cited tells us that 57million workers would want tobe in a union if they could haveone. But those who try to forma union, according toresearchers at MIT, have onlyabout a 1 in 5 chance of suc-cessfully doing so.

The reason? Most of the time,employees who want to form aunion are threatened and intim-idated by their employers. Andall too often, if they don’t heedthe warnings, they’re fired,even though that’s illegal. I sawthis when I was secretary ofLabor over a decade ago. Wetried to penalize employers thatbroke the law, but the fines areminuscule. Too many employ-ers consider them a cost ofdoing business.

This isn’t right. The mostimportant feature of theEmployee Free Choice Act,which will be considered bythe just-seated 111th Congress,toughens penalties againstcompanies that violate theirworkers’ rights. The sooner it’senacted, the better — for U.S.workers and for the U.S. econ-omy.

The American middle classisn’t looking for a bailout or ahandout. Most people just wanta chance to share in the successof the companies they help toprosper. Making it easier for allAmericans to form unionswould give the middle class the

bargaining power it needs forbetter wages and benefits. Anda strong and prosperous middleclass is necessary if our econo-my is to succeed.

Editor’s Note:Robert B. Reich is Professor

of Public Policy at the GoldmanSchool of Public Policy at theUniversity of California atBerkeley. He has served in threenational administrations, mostrecently as secretary of laborunder President Bill Clinton.He has written eleven books, in-cluding The Work of Nations,which has been translated into22 languages; the best-sellersThe Future of Success andLocked in the Cabinet, and hismost recent book, Supercapital-ism

As the nation’s 22nd Secre-tary of Labor, Reich imple-mented the Family and MedicalLeave Act, led a national fightagainst sweatshops in the U.S.and illegal child labor aroundthe world, headed the adminis-tration’s successful effort toraise the minimum wage, se-cured worker’s pensions, andlaunched job-training pro-grams, one-stop career centers,and school-to-work initiatives.Under his leadership, the De-partment of Labor won morethan 30 awards for innovation.A 1996 poll of cabinet expertsconducted by the Hearst news-papers rated him the most ef-fective cabinet secretary duringthe Clinton administration.

Reich has been a member ofthe faculties of Harvard’s JohnF. Kennedy School of Govern-ment and of Brandeis Univer-sity. He received his B.A. fromDartmouth College, his M.A.from Oxford University, wherehe was a Rhodes Scholar, andhis J.D. from Yale Law School.

What’s the Word for Wall Street Greed?

By Jim HightowerReprinted with Permission

©2009America’s titans of finance

have caused the worst eco-nomic collapse since the GreatDepression, and what is theirreaction? Party time!

“Break out the champagne/We’re feeling no pain/ Let thebonuses rain/ It’s all to ourgain!”

Obtuse? Self-indulgent?Narcissistic? What’s withthese people? Let’s reviewjust three examples of theirinsanity:

While Merrill Lynch wascollapsing last year, requiringa $25 billion salvage job fromus taxpayers, its CEO wasmerrily redecorating hisoffice, picking out such neces-sities as $28,000 worth of cur-tains, a $35,000 antique com-mode, and a $1,400 waste bas-ket. Then he magnanimouslydoled out $4 billion in execu-tive bonuses.

Citigroup, which lost $28billion in the past 15 months,has now been given a $345billion bailout from Washing-ton and is presently holding afire sale of its corporate partsin a desperate effort to sur-vive. But this didn’t stop topexecutives from trying to buya new, $50-million, DassaultFalcon corporate jet for them-selves. Nevermind that thebank already had five execu-tive jets.

Despite losing billions ofdollars last year, then going hatin hand to the government formultibillion-dollar bailouts,

Wall Street investment bankerspaid themselves $18 billion inbonuses at the end of the year.In a poll of these bankers, 46percent felt they deserved big-ger bonuses.

We have to have some newwords. “Greed” doesn’t say it.“Outrageous” falls way short.“Shameful” has no effect onbankers.

What some of the mediathink:

“Wall Street’s Socialist Jet-Setters,” www.nytimes.com,January 7, 2009.

“Of boundless greed andself-indulgence,” Austin Amer-ican Statesman, January 29,2009.

“What Red Ink? Wall St.Paid Hefty Bonuses, January29, 2009.

“Obama, Dodd Slam Wall St.Bonuses,” www.nytimes.com,January 29, 2009.

“Obama calls $18B in WallSt. bonuses ‘shameful’,”www.yahoo.com, January 19,2009.

A reminder…Discipline and your Rights

By Jobe LeonDirector

The workload at the UnionOffice is picking up with P.S.D.;some stuff warranted and some

not. Remember, if a supervisorstarts asking you questionsabout an incident or a situationin which you feel might blos-som into an investigation andinterviews with Fire Depart-ment Advocates, you need toask yourself this question:

Will this conversation possi-bly lead to disciplinary action?

If the answer is yes, you needto secure a Union Rep first. Ifthey try to deny you a rep, callus and we will take appropriateaction. Please review and readAB 220, the “Firefighters Bill ofRights”. Copies are available atthe UFLAC Office.

Buy American - Buy UnionIn February, the Senate voted

to keep much-needed “BuyAmerican” provisions in theAmerican Recovery and Rein-vestment Act.

With the Buy American debateup front, we thought it was a per-fect time to remind you about all

the great American-made itemswe have at the Union Shop On-line. From hats to shirts, buttons,mugs, portfolios, games, um-brellas and more, we have whatyou need and it’s all made inAmerica by union workers. Goto: https://unionshop.aflcio.org/

Page 6 Los Angeles Firefighter March/April 2009

In Loving Memory...Captain II John E. Lawrence

By Christy Guyovich, daughter and

John Lawrence, Jr., sonBorn March 31, 1948, John

was a devoted husband, caringfather, loving grandfather anddedicated friend. In 1977, Johnfell in love with and marriedValerie. Together, they enjoyed

the last 31 years and conqueredall the challenges that camealong.

Throughout his life, John wasknown as a hard worker. Com-mitted, reliable, dedicated, un-selfish, and true to his word.John realized the importance ofrelationships and lived by the

motto, “Treat others as you wantto be treated” and “If you tellsomeone you’re going to dosomething, you do it.” To manywith the Los Angeles City FireDepartment, John was a gener-ous friend, leader, role modeland second father. John was thevoice of reason and constantly

available to help family, friendsor strangers in any way possible.

John’s smile, laughter, andplayful sense of humor will bemissed by all who were fortu-nate enough to know him. Al-though he’s gone, his spirit willlive on eternally within his fam-ily, friends, department, and

loved ones.John, Dad, and Grandpa:

Thank you for the time youspent with us, we are all betterfor it. You will truly be missedby all of us. You were a greatman who will not be forgotten.

With the grace of God, maywe meet again. We love you!

March/April 2009 Los Angeles Firefighter Page 7

In Memoriam

John E. LawrenceActive Fire Captain II

Fire Station 75 “A” PlatoonBorn: March 31, 1948

Appointed to LAFD: April 14, 1974Died (LODD): December 14, 2008

The officers and members of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112, IAFF, AFL-CIO-CLC

extends heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of our Brother John E. Lawrence during this very

difficult time.

Remembering our brother and dear friend…

family was amazing to see. Ittruly shows how one man canmake such an impact on somany people.

John E. Lawrence was re-vived by the members of FS-75and placed on life support longenough for his family to fly inand say their goodbyes. John’sson, John Jr., his daughterChristy Guyovich and wife Valwere all by his side when hepeacefully passed.

We were able to witness firsthand the preparations for theamazing funeral. A committeewas formed and many of thestaff put in countless hours ofoff duty time to make every-thing run smooth. An IAP wasformed with logistics, planning,finance, and operations. Train-ing was involved and volunteerssigned up to help in all areas.The thank you list is long but

you know who you are and wecan’t thank you enough.

John lived and worked inBattalion 12 and we are miss-ing him very much. We canonly hope when it’s our timethat we leave the kind of im-pact John has left on thisworld. He was just recentlynominated for “Firefighter ofthe Year” because he was so re-spected and admired by hisfirefighter peers.

John and his wife Val put incountless hours of volunteertime for non-profit organizationfundraisers. They put all thesehours in to give back to thecommunity and fire departmentfamily. Many of us have ice ma-chines, fax machines, and sta-tion repairs because of the workJohn did with “Benefit for theBravest” fundraiser. John wasmore than just a fundraiser. Hewas a mentor and a friend.

Possibly John’s only fault wasthat he wanted to make every-body happy. He always wentout of his way to make othershappy. He loved to bring fami-lies together and cook prime rib.John was big into camaraderie,especially around Christmastime. John started a LawrenceChristmas Party tradition at FS-60, FS-74, and FS-75, and theyhave been growing bigger andbigger every year.

To John’s wife Valerie, andhis adult children, John Jr. andChristy…thank you so muchfor sharing John with us.

Editor’s note:A very special thanks to

FF/PM Adam Van Gerpen forhis technical support with photographics and special liaison withMrs. Valerie Lawrence… andalso to David Blaire for his pho-tography at the funeral service.

Continued from page 1

By Paul GilbrookFirst Vice President

This is my first opportunity touse our newspaper to thank allthe members who supported mefor the position of 1st VP ofLocal 112. I also want take thisoccasion to ask the memberswho didn’t back me, to let meprove to you that I’m worthy ofyour support in the future.

Since taking office in mid De-cember of 2008, Local 112 hashad to deal with plenty of seri-ous challenges in a very shorttime frame. We’ve been con-fronted with proposed staffingcuts, the shutting down of emer-gency apparatus, the inappropri-ate detailing of members, andmany other issues.

I can tell you that the local haseffectively stopped most ofthese attacks by effectively lob-bying our elected officials and

by challenging the LAFD ad-ministration as necessary. Butthis is only the first round. Thecity budget is deteriorating andthey are looking at deeper cutsin the very near future. Rest as-sured, we are not only monitor-ing these actions but will use thebargaining process and everyother means to protect yourrights and benefits and to protectthe strength of our fire depart-ment.

I also wish to thank you forelecting me to the UFLAC ne-gotiating team. Together withthe rest of the team, I havebegun the process of workingfor a contract that is worthy ofyou, the membership.

Another issue I am involvedwith is the disciplinary guide-lines and processes that were“signed off” by the past UFLACadministration. I am concernedthat they create a divide andconquer mentality among unionmembers. Under the rules thatLocal 112 agreed to nearly twoyears ago, Captains are forced toinvestigate their coworkers witha tape recorder issued by P.S.D.This often leaves Captains andsubordinates in an untenable po-sition since they must work andlive together – and trust one an-other completely – after the in-

vestigation is over. A well re-spected chief officer recentlycommented to me that the disci-pline agreement is the worstthing UFLAC ever let happen toits members.

Regarding negotiations: Iwould like to see a true seniority

bid system for assignments likethe rest of the major fire depart-ments in the United States, thestreamlining of the promotionalprocess, and the medical sub-sidy paid starting at 50 years ofage instead of 55 years.

Finally, everywhere you turn

right now, its doom and gloomover our economy. This does notgive us an excuse to not fight todeliver the best M.O.U. we canfor you and your family. That’swhat we are supposed to do andyou deserve steadfast represen-tation.

I’ve always said there has tobe transparency in the actions ofthe Unions Executive Board andnow you have it.

Remember, I’ll never lie toyou…I’ll always be there foryou…and I have the back boneto stand up for you. You deserveno less.

Page 8 Los Angeles Firefighter March/April 2009

Your Health…

Meet the Founder of Health View

By Anne CliffordConsultant

Fickewirth & AssociatesAs many of you know, on

January 1, 2009, UFLACmembers who are enrolled ineither the Anthem Blue CrossHMO or PPOS plan, are enti-tled to an exciting new supple-mental health benefit plan thatpays the costs of preventive CTscans. Specifically, eachUFLAC member and his or herspouse is entitled to one CTscan each twenty-four (24)months. This is such an impor-tant benefit – and such amazingtechnology – that we havedevoted two UFLAC newslet-ter columns to the topic. In thisissue, you will meetHealthView Founder HarveyEisenberg, M.D., a devotedphysician whose vision ofchanging the way medicine ispracticed led to the develop-ment of the body scan.

Q: Dr. Eisenberg, tell us a bitabout your background.

A: I grew up in Philadelphia,where I earned my medicaldegree from Thomas JeffersonUniversity and completed myresidency at Albert EinsteinMedical Center. After serving

in the Air Force during the late1960s, I was on the HarvardMedical School faculty foreight years and was director ofCardiovascular and Interven-tional Radiology. In 1978, Iheaded west, joining the Uni-versity of California, Irvine,and then UCLA.

I was on the UCLA facultyfor three years when I decidedto go into the private sector. Irealized that what I wanted todo was beyond the limits of thewalls of the university.

Q: What did you want to do?A: I have always worked

with industry, developingclinical programs, technology,and new applications for tech-nology. I wanted to make adifference in these areas, andmy group and I eventuallypioneered several technolo-gies in interventional radiolo-gy (surgery with catheters andmicroinstrumentation). Thisincluded pioneering image-guided microsurgery, digitalelectronic and 3-dimensionalimaging, and preventiveimaging including the inven-tion of the body scan.

Q: What has been your moti-vation in inventing these newtechnologies, including thebody scan?

A: I am very committed topreventive medicine. In 1994,I presented to Congress a planto re-engineer health care.Through advanced technolo-gies, we set out to change theentire way that medicine wasbeing practiced – shifting ourfocus from end-stage diseaseto preventive care. Indeed,

did you know that 95% of thehealth care dollars Americaspends are in the last sixmonths of life? We need toshift the focus to preventivecare, which is good for thepatient and good for the econ-omy.

The first program weembarked on was inventing thebody scan. Now we have alarge research and develop-ment group that receives mil-lions in annual funding fromthe U.S. Department ofDefense (Army, DARPA) forthe development of technolo-gies to advance diagnosticcapabilities beyond what iscommercially available. Wewant to extend this knowledgeto battlefield trauma care. Iforesee a day when we candiagnose a problem quicklyand accurately on the battle-field and then use remote con-trolled robotics to treat downedsolders from great distances.We are working on the diag-nostic capabilities right now.

Q: Dr. Eisenberg, what is oneof the biggest challenges youface at HealthView?

A: Interestingly, some peopledo not take advantage of ouradvanced technology and com-prehensive preventive care pro-gram because they “don’t wantto know” what is going on intheir body. But that is absurd.You can’t wish disease away.The earlier you deal with aproblem, the more effectivetreatment can be – and the factis you can deal with diseasethese days very effectively.And early in the disease

process is when you can havethe best shot at treating it.

Q: Why don’t people just getscans only when they havesymptoms?

A: It is important to stressthat symptoms in such life-threatening conditions as heartdisease and cancer often occurin the late stage of disease. Westay asymptomatic (withoutsymptoms) while diseases areadvancing and it is not until thebody’s reserves are overcomewhen symptoms appear.

For example, plaque startsbuilding in our arteries in latechildhood, and most of us con-sider plaque buildup to be sim-ply a plumbing problem. How-ever, the danger is that theseplaques are more like volca-noes that can erupt from thelate 20s onward, spewing littlepieces of material that can plugarteries. In fact, the smallplaques can be the most trou-blesome.

In addition, it can take cancerseven years to develop beforethere are any symptoms, andAlzheimer’s disease can bedeveloping in someone for 20years before symptoms appear.

The beauty of our program isnot only do we detect diseaseearly, but we help patientschange lifestyle patterns thatmay be causing these prob-lems. Our belief is that themost effective form of healthcare is to get people to takecare of themselves on a dailybasis, and take responsibilityfor their health. To accomplishthis, they need to be empow-ered with knowledge — and a

tracking system to monitortheir progress. And this is whatthe HealthView system is allabout.

Q: Could you explain theHealthView system further?

A: HealthView is not simplya scan. Rather, the scan is theentry point to the program.Once we see if there are anydiseases developing, we cangive patients the tools to stopthese changes and even reversethem. Let’s face it. People don’tmake changes to their lifestyleunless they want to makechanges. The HealthView sys-tem motivates individuals in avery positive way – instead offear, they can take control oftheir lives by taking some of themystery out of their health sta-tus. It is a very empoweringprogram.

You can visit HealthView onthe web at:

www.healthview.com.Through the Anthem Blue

Cross CaliforniaCare HMOand Prudent Buyer PPO plans,UFLAC members and theirfamilies have access to thefinest doctors and two of themost extensive networks in thestate. With CaliforniaCare, youcan build a relationship withyour primary care physicianand receive almost all benefitsincluding office visits, hospi-talization, surgery, routinephysical exams, well baby careand even vision and hearingexams, for little or no out-of-pocket cost. Additionally, Pru-dent Buyer is the best fee-for-service type health plan avail-able for UFLAC members.

We’re off and Running to Serve our Membership

Fire in a single family dwelling at 6424 Bellaire Ave. in NorthHollywood. It was knocked down in about 10 minutes. Thisdog was rescued from the house and brought back to her feetafter Firefighter Able Avalos worked on her for about 20 min-utes. Photos and information by Mike Meadows, EPN

March/April 2009 Los Angeles Firefighter Page 9

The Proposed McCauley Initiative MeasureEditor’s note:

This well drafted explanationshould squash the rumors flyingaround about the McCauley Ini-tiative. Although written for theemployees and pensioners inContra Costa County, it isapplicable to all Californiapublic employees.

January 23, 2009By L. Douglas Pipes

Contra Costa DA’s OfficeThe purpose of this paper is

to allay fears of retirees regard-ing a proposed initiative meas-ure, called “The McCauleyPublic-Employee PensionReform Act” (08-0018), whichhas been approved for circula-tion for signatures for possiblequalification for the Californiaballot in 2009. The initiative isnamed after Paul McCauley, acertified public accountant inSanta Monica, California, whois the proponent of the initia-tive.

In order for this initiativemeasure to appear on the Cali-fornia ballot it must obtain thesignatures of 8% of the numberof California voters who votedin the last election for Califor-nia’s governor. In 2008 thenumber needed to qualify aconstitutional amendment ini-tiative was 694,354 valid sig-natures. Due to duplicate sign-ings and invalid signatures,usually at least 50% more thanthe legal minimum number of

signatures are collected tocompensate for possible invali-dated signatures. This meansthat the proponents will have toobtain more than 1 million sig-natures of registered Californiavoters to qualify the McCauleyinitiative for the ballot.

Collecting signatures for ini-tiatives is costly. Because noone can obtain these signaturesusing volunteers, initiative pro-ponents hire firms to obtainsignatures on the initiative peti-tions. The cost to the propo-nents to obtain the million plussignatures needed to qualifythe McCauley initiative wouldbe in excess of $2 million.

If despite this cost this initia-tive measure were to qualifyfor the ballot and then be enact-ed by the electorate, the initia-tive would amend the Con-tracts Clause of the CaliforniaConstitution to provide thatpublic-employee pension con-tracts may be re-negotiated toinclude reductions of vestedbenefits of existing and futureretirees. This amendmentwould effectively eliminate theContract Clause of the Califor-nia Constitution as a protectorof vested pension benefits.

The good news is that evenif passed by the electorate, theMcCauley initiative would nottake away vested pension bene-fits of California’s publicemployee retirees.

There will always be people,

such as Mr. McCauley, whobelieve that they have the rightto take away the property ofothers under the authority ofenacting legislation or amend-ments to the state Constitution.We cannot stop these (mostlyignorant) people from rabblerousing the electorate withthese kinds of proposals.

But we can stop such propos-als from going into effect. Evenif it is passed by the electorate,the courts would stop theMcCauley initiative fromallowing California govern-mental agencies to strip awayyour vested pension benefits.The reason is simple: TheMcCauley initiative wouldconstitute an unlawful takingof private property without dueprocess of law in violation ofthe California Constitution,and it would also violate theContracts Clause of the UnitedStates Constitution.

No matter what this initiativemight attempt to do to the Con-tract Clause of the CaliforniaConstitution, the ContractClause of the United StatesConstitution will remain intactand unaffected by this initia-tive. Let me explain why this istrue.

The Contract Clause of theUnited States Constitution isfound in Article I, section 10,clause 1, of the U.S. Constitu-tion. The Contract Clausestates:

“No State shall...pass any...Law impairing the Obligationof Contracts...”

The framers of the UnitedStates Constitution added thisclause to the Constitutionbecause of their fear that stateswould continue a practice thathad been widespread under theArticles of Confederation priorto the adoption of our Constitu-tion in 1787 — that of granting“private relief.” Under the Arti-cles of Confederation, statelegislatures passed bills reliev-ing particular persons (usuallyinfluential persons) of theirobligations to pay their debts.The framers of the Constitutionwrote a Contracts Clause intoour United States Constitutionto prevent states like Californiafrom enacting laws that wouldimpair the obligations of any-one, including the state or localgovernments, to honor theircontracts.

Our pensions are contractsbetween government andretirees (pensioners) which havevested. Thus, no amendment ofthe California State Constitutioncan impair the obligation of theState of California, or any polit-ical subdivision of the State(such as Contra Costa County),to honor its contractual pensionobligations to its retirees.

It is inconceivable to me thatthe United States Constitutionwould ever be amended toremove the Contracts Clause

from the United States Constitu-tion. Amending our federal con-stitution is a difficult and longprocess. A proposed amendmentto the Constitution must first bepassed by a 2/3 vote of the Con-gress. If passed by a 2/3 vote ofthe Congress, the proposedamendment must then be sub-mitted to the 50 states for ratifi-cation. The amendment wouldnot go into effect until 3/4 of thestates had ratified it. UsuallyCongress prescribes a sevenyear period for the amendmentto be ratified by the requisite 3/4of the states. If 3/4 of the statesdo not ratify it within that timeperiod, the amendment dies.

The result of this process isthat amendments to the UnitedStates Constitution are rare,and only amendments that areoverwhelmingly supported bya large percentage of the citi-zenry get enacted.

I trust that this explanationwill give you freedom from anylingering fear that the enactmentof the proposed McCauley ini-tiative in California would con-stitute a serious danger to ourretirement allowances. It won’t.

You can sleep well at nightwithout worrying about theMcCauley initiative. Let usinstead focus our concerns andactions on our fight to protectour vested health insurancebenefits from the “slash andburn” actions of Contra CostaCounty.

Union Heroes Save Passengers onUS Airways Flight

by Mike HallAFL-CIO Blog

The quick thinking, bravery,experience and extensive train-ing of US Airways Flight 1549pilot, Capt. Chesley “Sully”Sullenberger, co-pilot JeffreySkiles, the crew of flight atten-dants, the air traffic controllersguiding the flight low overManhattan and the rescuerswere the key factors in yester-day’s “Miracle on the Hud-son,” where 155 people sur-vived an emergency landing inthe river.

The mainstream media ischronicling the miracle, but asMarcy Wheeler on Empty-wheel points out:

What they are not tellingyou is just about every singleone of these heroes is a unionmember.

They are union memberswho got that extensive safetyand job training thanks to theirunion contracts.

Sullenberger, with 40 yearsof flight experience, served asinstructor and safety commit-tee chairman for the Air LinePilots (ALPA). Following, theUS Airways merger withAmerica West, the airline’spilots are now members of anindependent union.

The crew of three flightattendants who shepherded thepassengers safely out the emer-gency exits are members of theFlight Attendants-CWA (AFA-

CWA). Says AFA-CWA Presi-dent Patricia Friend:

Flight attendants are highlytrained safety and security pro-fessionals and today’s success-ful evacuation is an over-whelming example of the nec-essary role flight attendantsserve on board the aircraft.Flight attendants receiveextensive training on emer-gency evacuations and eachyear they undergo additionaltraining to ensure their profi-ciency.

The air traffic controllerswho helped route the AirbusA320 around Manhattan, afterSullenberger reported that abird strike had shut down bothengines, are members of theNational Air Traffic Con-trollers Association (NATCA).As Reuters reports:

According to controllers, an“eerie calm” defined controllerand cockpit communicationsas options dwindled.

There are fewer controllersworking longer hours becauseof Bush’s Federal AviationAdministration (FAA), whichhas refused to bargain a con-tract with the union for nearlythree years. Yet the controllerscontinue to “Guide you home,”as their motto states. SaysWheeler:

Someday they will renameNational Airport (servingWashington, D.C.) for thework these men and women doto keep us safe in the air.

The ferry crews that immedi-ately responded when they sawthe plane in the river are Sea-farers (SIU) members. TheSIU provides extensive safetytraining for its members.Marine Engineers (MEBA)members pilot many of the fer-ries and fireboats that respond-ed. Those police and fireboatsthat arrived to pull passengersto safety are crewed by mem-bers of the Fire Fighters(IAFF) and Patrolmen’sBenevolent Association(PBA).  As Wheeler points out:

They are the men andwomen who performed soheroically on 9/11.

Congratulations to all thebrave men and women unionmembers who performed soheroically yesterday.

26 Companies of Los AngelesFirefighters, 4 Helicopters andmany LAFD and mutual aid re-sources responded to a GreaterAlarm Brush Fire at 8300 W. LaTuna Canyon Rd. in Sun Valley.

The first arriving Firefighterson scene found an auto firewhich ignited approximately 1acre of heavy brush. Additional

companies, water dropping hel-icopters and hand crews wereimmediately requested to gaincontrol of the blaze.

158 L.A. City Firefighters, 5Engines from L.A. County andGlendale Departments were usedto contain the fire to 20 acres.

Photos and information byMike Meadows, EPN

Auto Fire Ignites Brush

Page 10 Los Angeles Firefighter March/April 2009

Leave Firefighting to the Pros“Stay-and-defend, which encourages homeowners to remain in harm’s way, prioritized saving money over saving lives.”

By Harold SchaitbergerIAFF General President

If stay-and-defend is the bestidea California’s fire chiefs cancome up with to do a better jobcontaining the state’s wildfires,my frustration is exceeded onlyby my concern for the state’sresidents. Stay-and-defend —outlined in several Times newsarticles, most recently in theJan. 13 story, “Southern Cali-fornia fire chiefs debate stay-and-defend program “ —should make people run andhide.

Exploring new ideas to pro-

tect Californians from thestate’s increasing number ofwildfires is commendable, butstay-and-defend would be afailure. The program includesasking homeowners to pretendthat a government educationcourse on fire risk would pro-vide them sufficient training toprotect themselves and theirproperty during a wildfire,thereby requiring fewer profes-sional firefighters to bedeployed.

Hearing anyone suggest thathomeowners should not get outof harm’s way is appalling.Hearing a public safety profes-sional make the suggestion isshameless. Stay-and-defend isclearly a half-baked idea frompeople who believe that savingmoney is more important thansaving lives.

Stay-and-defend has had lim-ited success in the Australianbush, where the tactic has beenused for some time. But it hasalso led to disaster, and thehomesteader program wouldnot translate to a state as popu-lous as California. It wouldthrust thousands of homeown-ers in the path of raging wild-

fires without proper equipmentor training, unless the state’sfire chiefs want to spend hun-dreds of millions of dollarstraining Californians andequipping them with their ownprotective gear and firefightingapparatus. Even if Californiawere to do this, firefighterswould still have to rescue thepeople who stay behind. Sowhat will have been accom-plished?

Unfortunately, stay-and-defend isn’t the only bad ideabeing peddled by the state’sfire chiefs and political leader-ship. In several other news arti-cles, The Times has noted thatprivate contractors are makingmillions of dollars off taxpay-ers for little more than havingvastly untrained employeesdrive their private tractors andpickup trucks to fire lines. Ifthe state and U.S. Forest Serv-ice want to reduce costs, theyshould stop wasting tens ofmillions of dollars on mostlyunqualified, usually uncheckedprivate contractors whose pres-ence on fire lines raises signifi-cant safety concerns. They addlittle to the effectiveness of the

professional, highly trainedcrews of Cal Fire (the state’sfirefighting agency) and localjurisdictions on the front lines.

Public safety is the responsi-bility of federal, state and localgovernments. Taxpayers expectpublic safety to remain anessential government functionperformed by highly trainedprofessionals.

None of this isn’t to say thathomeowners do not have aresponsibility to mitigate firerisk. Residents can help protecttheir homes by using buildingmaterials that do not ignite eas-ily and clearing potential fuelssuch as brush from their prop-erty. But no matter how diffi-cult California’s budget crisisbecomes, homeowners shouldnever be asked to stand in theline of fire — literally —armed with nothing more thana garden hose.

What other cost-cuttingmeasures are next? Will we askhomeowners to fight fires withtheir shower heads? Will weask cab drivers provide para-medic service? Should we tellmall security guards to patrolour streets?

California’s highly trainedfirefighters are as necessary asever. The state’s populationcontinues to grow — and growolder — and more residents arestaking their claim in ruralareas, where wildfires arebecoming more frequent andmore dangerous.

California’s progressivepublic servants are pushing fora process that more effectivelylays out local response, pre-vention, enforcement andbuilding standards. My organi-zation stands ready to assistthem in pushing for bettercoordination and use ofresources with the U.S. ForestService to ensure that Califor-nia’s highly trained, profes-sional emergency respondersare used appropriately. Stay-and-defend does nothing toachieve these goals, and itmust be abandoned beforesomeone gets hurt.

Harold Schaitberger, a for-mer firefighter in Virginia, isgeneral president of the Inter-national Assn. of Fire Fighters,which represents 294,000 fire-fighters and paramedics in theU.S. and Canada.

Letter from Afghanistan…

Dear Frank Lima,Just wanted to drop you a line

and give you an update as to thestatus here in the Kunar Provi-dence, Afghanistan.

PRO - The area is a hiker/outdoorsman dream (just beau-tiful).

CON - The environment isfilled with corrupt individu-als...everyone looking for hand-outs and a fast dollar.

This area of the country isstill primitive...ran into a villagelast week and they thought wewere Russians...we were thefirst Americans they had seensince the Russian’s invadedtheir country.  The mountainpasses vary 3000’ to 15000’(Hindu Kush).

Work here entails severallanes:

Removal of AAF (Anti

Afghani Force = Taliban),Building up the local Shuras

(village elders) so they workwith the local government tohelp build a better way of life

Assess villages and districtsto identify basic essential needs(food, water, roof over head,

etc...) and,Design/build any means

available to get a desired effectthe U.S. government may want.This is the tricky part...

Hope all is well; if I am luckyI can be out of here sooner thanthe year that was expected.

CPT EVANS, BILL P.416 CA BNFOB BOSTICKDSN: 481-2484SVOIP: 673-4131

____________

Dear President McOsker,I would like to thank you

and the members of IAFFLocal 112 who helped me onJanuary 20, 2009. I am a re-tired active member IAFFLocal 1660 in Oregon. Mywife and I left Oregon for a 4

day trip, driving from Portlandto LA to move our daughterback to Portland. While pack-ing we realized that we weregoing to have everything buther computer desk. The deskhad little monetary value andleaving it in her apartmentwould have forfeited her $500deposit. Not sure of what todo, I went to the firehouse onCesar Chavez Ave. a fewblocks south of Boule Ave. andasked if they knew of a nearbyGoodwill, of if I could bringthe desk there and one of themdrop it off for me at a Good-will. They told me to bring itto the station and they wouldtake care of it. This may notseem like much of a request,but when we were 950 milesfrom home in a unfamiliar areathe help they gave took a hugeburden off of our day.

Sincerely, Jerry ThiringerRetired Active Member IAFFLocal 1660

PS. My wife asked me how Iknew there would be a pickupin the parking lot at the fire-house. I thought that was funny.

____________

Dear Jim Perry:

Thank you for calling and fortaking the time to honor John’smemory in such a special way.Bless each of you for the won-derful job you do.

Valerie Lawrence____________

Frank:Thank you for sticking by me

these last two years. I haven’t feltthis good in a long time. This set-tlement is a huge vindication of

me and of my professionalintegrity. It  also demonstratesyour tremendous loyalty to themembers of UFLAC.  Unfortu-nately this incident further stainsthe reputation of the Los AngelesFire Department and is an indict-ment of upper level L.A.F.D.management...the chief officerswithin my chain of command.And most importantly, the scan-dalous and unethical behavior ofdepartment advocates and thechief officers that participated inmy Board of Rights.

Regrettably there is oneaspect of this incident whichthis settlement will not fix andthat is that I was forced to spendfour of the last five months of

my 33+ year career on suspen-sion. I truly feel cheated of thattime  and the experience of“going out with my head heldhigh” and on my own terms.

Along with you and RobertRico I want to thank all myco-workers and friends atFire Stations 35, 33 and 47 aswell as throughout thedepartment for their friend-ship and support. Their wordsof encouragement and theirgestures of kindness duringthis difficult time will neverbe forgotten.

Love You Bro! Your friendfor life…

Robert L. McMaster

Captain Bill Evans (FS-38-C) with his interpreter Maroof at thePakistan border looking for refugees.

“For those who fight for it,life has a flavor that the

protected shall never know”By Frank Lima

2nd Vice PresidentThe LAFD has many mili-

tary personnel, both past andpresent, who have served inwars such as WWII, Korea,Vietnam, other battles, andcurrently in Afghanistan andIraq. A big sincere “thanks”goes out to all of our troops.“Thanks” and simple expres-sions of appreciation are notsaid enough to our troops.

The LAFD has had many(not all) troops come backfrom deployments to fightother battles with fire depart-ment management…not openarms. Unfortunately we havehad troops come back to findthey have not been paid formonths because they were de-ployed, loans are late, houses

are on the brink of foreclo-sure, and in one case a proba-tionary member was coercedto resign in lieu of termina-tion. You can not make up sto-ries like this.

So with that said, the Unionwould like to remind our mil-itary personnel that we willnot give up on your battles athome, and hopefully we canchange the aforementionedexamples from happening tofuture deployed LAFD per-sonnel.

Please “Thank a MilitaryVeteran” today for their coura-geous service on our behalf.Their service makes it possiblefor our families to sleep inpeace at night. God Bless allof our military troops, bothpast and present!

March/April 2009 Los Angeles Firefighter Page 11

This emblem on the masthead of any labor publication certifies that the publica-tion is a member in good standing of the International Labor Communications As-

sociation and is bound to observe the ILCA Code of Ethics

IAFF and AFL-CIO affiliates have prior approval to reprint or excerpt articles inthe Los Angeles Firefighter — Please include credit line.

Note: Photos and cartoons may not be reprinted without the expressed writtenpermission of the photographer or artist.

The Los Angeles Firefighter(ISSN #0190-7573)

Local 112, IAFF, AFL-CIO-CLCOfficial Publication of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City is

Published Bi-MonthlyPeriodical Postage paid at Los Angeles, CA

Known Office of Publication isUnited Firefighters of Los Angeles City,

1571 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles,California 90026-5798

POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes to The Los Angeles Firefighter1571 Beverly Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90026-5798

Union Office Phone NumbersAdministration:

(213) 895-4006 - (213) 485-2091 - Toll Free (800) 252-8352

Benefits:(213) 895-4990

FAX: (213) 250-5678

Website: www.uflac.org

EAP Office: (213) 895-0910 or (800) 252-8352

EAP FAX: (213) 481-1038

EAP 24 Hr. Help LineAnswering Service: (213) 250-1212

AffiliationsInternational Assn. of Fire Fighters, AFL-CIO-CLC

California Professional Fire FightersL.A. County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

California Labor Federation, AFL-CIOAmerican Federation of Labor

International Labor Communications Association, AFL-CIO-CLC

Los Angeles Firefighter Newspaper StaffJim Perry-Editorjperry@uflac.org

Jerry Smith - Staff Writer

Contributing Photographers

Emergency Photographers Network, (EPN)

David BlairGene Blevins, EPNIsaac Burks, LAFDRob Curtis, LAFDJuan Guerra, EPN

Brian HaimerBill Hartenstein

Ryan W. Ling, EPNBrian Litt

Rick McClure, LAFDMike Meadows, EPN

Lloyd PaineMartin Nate Rawner

Jeff Zimmerman, EPN

This union newspaper is printed by a union printer on union-made recycled paper.

If You See An Error…The Los Angeles Firefighter

strives to maintain accuracy andfairness in all stories, graphics,photographs and other copy thatappears in our union newspaper.It is our practice to correct er-rors in the issue immediatelyfollowing their discovery.

If you have a correction orclarification request, please callthe UFLAC office at 800-252-8352 or email the editor:jperry@uflac.org

Union Stewards NeededWe are in the process of reorganizing and updating our Union

Stewards Program. It is our goal to have a Union Steward atevery work location. Current and prospective Stewards are re-quested to contact UFLAC Secretary David Pimentle at theunion office: (800) 252-8352.

Newspaper Mailing ListIf you are receiving this newspaper and have a change of ad-

dress or would like to be removed from our mailing list, pleasecall the union office at 1-800-252-8352, Ext. 208 or clip andmail this note to:

UFLAC Local 112Attn: Maria

1571 Beverly Blvd.Los Angeles, CA 90026

Name __________________________________________Address ________________________________________City ___________________________________________State______________________ ZIP_________________

Check UFLACWebsite

For latest news, information and

possible meeting date changes

www.uflac.org

General Membership

Meeting

9:00 a.m.March 25, 2009

Wednesday“A” Shift Working

9:00 a.m.April 22, 2009Wednesday

“B” Shift Working

Location – UFLACUnion Offices

1571 Beverly Blvd.Los Angeles, CA 90026

Refreshments and Free Parking Available

At both locations

2009-2010 UFLAC Executive Board

PRESIDENTPat McOsker, Engineer . . . . . . . . . . . . Fire Station 101-A

FIRST VICE PRESIDENTPaul Gilbrook, Apparatus Operator. . . Fire Station 47-C

SECOND VICE PRESIDENTFrank Lima, Captain II . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fire Station 69-B

TREASURERBrian Hishinuma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fire Station 38-C

SECRETARYDavid Pimentle, Captain/Paramedic . . . . UFLAC Office

DIRECTORSLeon Jobe, Caption II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fire Station 47-CMike Tobey, Firefighter III . . . . . . . . . . Fire Station 33-AChuong Ho, Firefighter III . . . . . . . . . . Fire Station 14-BTony Gamboa, Apparatus Operator. . . Fire Station 38-CRey Delgado, Firefighter/Paramedic . . Fire Station 42-B

BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVEMike McOsker, Retired Engineer . . . . . . . UFLAC Office

EDITORJim Perry, Retired Fire Captain II . . . . . . UFLAC Office

EMS Positions SavedOn Monday, February 9th, at

the behest of UFLAC and theFire Chief, both the City Coun-cil’s Public Safety and Budgetand Finance Committees votedto amend a report regarding theLAFD budget, and to forwardthe report to the full Council foraction. Their amendmentchanged the document from onethat recommended the elimina-tion of 9 EMS District Captains,to one that now ensures that allcurrent EMS District Captainpositions and V-staffed ambu-lances will be funded for the re-mainder of the fiscal year.

The committees’ actionsbrought to a successful conclu-sion a two-month lobbying ef-fort that began when 18 EMSDistrict Captains positions wereput on the chopping block bythe Chairman of the Budget andFinance Committee in Decem-ber. As we worked to preservethe positions, the Chairman re-aimed twice: For a time hesought to cut 9 EMS Captainsand 4 V-staffed ambulances,and then later it became just 9EMS Captains. In the end, none

of the other committee mem-bers supported the Chairman’sinitiative. Instead they electedto side with UFLAC and FireManagement by leaving allLAFD emergency responders inplace and fully funded.

UFLAC wishes to thank theelected officials who stood withus on this important publicsafety matter, and to acknowl-edge the hard work and willing-ness to collaborate on the partof the Fire Chief.

Station StewardsMarch/April 2009

Assignment Platoon Name001 A Mark B. Stafford004 A Charles Garcia005 A Mario A. Garcia008 A Michael Crandall008 C Mark Kleckner009 C Adrian Vasquez009 C Felipe Villegas011 C Greg Malais015 A Cameron R. Kennedy015 C Edward Larini016 A Dan Butcher021 B Chris Stellern029 A John R. Maestri029 B Michael Ladue033 C Kevin L. Willis034 B Joe Smith042 C Ruben Terrazas044 B David Raya048 A Hector M. Hernandez051 A Alicia Mathis066 C Anthony R. Temple069 A Marc Samama074 B Michael McGrady074 A William Ramsey075 A Adam M. Van Gerpen076 C Francisco “Frank” Hurtado077 C M. Benjamin J. Rossell079 A Scott Carter085 C Ed Campos083 C Benjamin R. Guzman084 A Thomas G. Chamberlain084 A Douglas Deyoung085 A Andrew D. Muniz087 B Jeffrey Rickey092 A Christopher Contreras094 C Rigo Arellano095 A Buck O’Connor096 A Ronald Myers098 A George James101 A Pat McOsker103 C Steve G. Brunett105 B Henry Munoz112 A Keith Massey112 C John DonatoFPB Sidney ChambersDTFH S Jacob RyanVFP Scott MillerVPP Russell K. Rawls

Station Stewards MeetingsTime: 7:30 a.m.

Prior to Monthly Membership Meetings(Same location as the Membership Meeting)

Page 12 Los Angeles Firefighter March/April 2009

Stay and Defend”…

Australia’s FirePolicy Proves Deadly

death of so many “Stay andDefenders” the judgment ofthose who advocated for thisapproach is being questioned.

Ironically, here in California,the Stay and Defend policy wasreceiving serious considerationby certain fire service leadersjust prior to these develop-ments. After last October’swildfires, the Los AngelesTimes ran a series of in-deptharticles examining and ques-tioning certain aspects of Cali-fornia’s brush fire response.Among the articles was a veryfavorable report on the Aus-tralian Stay and Defend policy.Soon thereafter, certain areafire chiefs began discussing thepossible merits of enacting asimilar policy in Southern Cal-ifornia. Ventura County FireChief Bob Roper became avocal proponent of Stay andDefend. Despite concernsexpressed by the local repre-senting his rank-and-file mem-bers, Chief Roper began mak-ing plans to unveil his own ver-sion by mid-February.

UFLAC President McOskerwarned Against the folly

of Stay and DefendAs Chief Roper’s plan

became public knowledge, LosAngeles Times reporter Cather-ine Saillant picked up on thestory. She called UFLAC Pres-ident Pat McOsker and askedhim to comment, from a rank-and-file perspective, on theVentura County Stay andDefend scheme. PresidentMcOsker offered a dim assess-ment of the plan, speculatingthat deaths could easily occuras inexperienced civilians pan-icked in the face of flames andattempted to flee at the lastminute. The story ran in theTimes on January 13th with PatMcOsker’s warnings againstthe folly of Stay and Defend.

Retired LAFD Chief Bamattre Proponent of

Stay and DefendOn February 4th California

fire service leaders came togeth-er at a scheduled FIRESCOPEmeeting. The hot topic of themeeting quickly became theStay and Defend initiative. Inattendance at FIRESCOPE thatday was retired Los AngelesCity Fire Chief, Bill Bamattre.While he was identified as a“facilitator” at the meeting,many of his comments wereclearly angled in support of Stayand Defend. As the retired chiefspoke, many in attendance won-

dered if he was already underemployment by a specific pro-ponent of the policy, if he hadan eye toward future employ-ment, or if neither applied. It isclear that he and others whospoke at FIRESCOPE in favorof this ill-advised use of civilianvolunteers at brush fires, have ahistory of advocating againstsafe staffing levels for profes-sional fire departments and/orfor the increased use of privatefirefighting resources.

Fire Chiefs Barry, Freeman and CPF President Paulson

Oppose Stay and DefendThankfully, also in atten-

dance at that meeting wereL.A. City Fire Chief DougBarry, and L.A. County FireChief P. Michael Freeman.Both of them came out on theright side of the issue, urgingothers not to make the mistakeof endorsing a policy thatmight have tragic conse-quences for the public. Califor-nia Professional FirefightersPresident Lou Paulson went onthe record as adamantlyopposed to Stay and Defend aswell. By the conclusion of themeeting, the pro and con sidesof the issue had battled tosomething of a draw, and theFIRESCOPE panel generated adraft statement that neitherfully endorsed nor fully dis-couraged the use of the Stayand Defend approach.

So Cal Fire Chiefs NowPropose “Prepare…Leave Early” Policy

Then tragedy struck in Aus-tralia. As news came in over aseveral day period in the secondweek of February, it becameclear that Stay and Defend hadbeen tantamount to “Stay andDie” in these horrific fires.Southern California fire serviceleaders scrambled to change themessage. By February 13th –the very day that Ventura Coun-ty Fire Chief Roper had origi-nally planed to unveil his South-ern California version of Stayand Defend – FIRESCOPE wasending the debate. Their releasethat day was titled: “Pre-pare…Leave Early…FollowEvacuation Orders”. In it theyhighlighted the inherent dangersinvolved in brush firefighting inCalifornia and went on to saythat “any consideration of theAustralian so-called LeaveEarly or Stay and Defend policywould be irresponsible at thistime in light of the tragedy inAustralia”.

Continued from page 1

Sylmar Brush Fire Community Fundraiser

By Frank Lima2nd Vice President

Responding to requests fromCouncilman Richard Alarconand Mayor Antonio Vil-laraigosa, United Firefighters ofLos Angeles City stepped upand donated time, money, andmanpower to assist the victimsof the devastating Sylmar BrushFire who lost loved ones, homes,and irreplaceable valuables.

Breakfast was cooked andserved, while clothes, blankets,toiletries, and toys were handedout to needy people who hadgathered at Sylmar HighSchool…all while being enter-tained by singing and dancingkids in the community.

Hundreds of grateful citizenswere on hand to thank theLAFD for their heroic effortsduring that tragic fire and wereoverwhelmed by the generosityof the same firefighters whoparticipated in this communityfundraiser.

UFLAC Board Memberswere joined by Engine andRescue Ambulance 91 in host-ing this most memorableevent.

City Councilmember Richard Alarcon (Fourth from the right)and UFLAC members participating in the Sylmar Brush FireVictim Community Fund Raiser. The little guy is Joey Lima.

Maria Riggs, long time UFLAC Secretary and Assistant OfficeManager joins the Lima and Gamboa children in a little enter-tainment after all their work at the Community Fund Raiser.

Photos by Frank Lima