Use of 'Brownouts" is Spreading

[Truck4 48]

Link to a an article from Vegas informing the public about the consider use of 'Brownouts' in Clark County Fire:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun/2...er-latest-cuts/

"Brownouts are being used or proposed in different ways across the country. In Boston, starting Wednesday, officials will begin pulling ladder trucks used for training out of service for a day to cut overtime costs.

Sacramento’s brownout meant closing a firehouse for a designated period of time. The targeted firehouses were rotated so that the same firehouse wasn’t closed several times in a row."

[x635 4,066]

Thankfully, although the cities around me are tightening their belts, things haven't gone into brownouts or layoffs. In contrast, guys are giving up pay raises in order to keep staffing levels where they should be....police, fire, and ems- and to make sure no one gets laid off.

One thing being considered here is sending a two man "medical squad" out in the busier FD first response EMS districts, to cut down on fuel and wear and tear on the engines (usually 4-5 guys). As a friend explained to me who works for Austin FD, he stated he would rather defer a raise and temporarily give up some other perks and go home to his wife and kids at night then reduce staffing and increase the danger to himself, his fellow firefighters, and the citizens.

Politics down here are still politics, but thankfully, it's so much different here....different way of thinking about things.

[mmwolf65 1]

My dept. just outside Boston has been "browning out" 1 company every tour since early this year. It will continue for the forseeable future, even after we gave concessions to prevent layoffs. We ran 5 engines and 2 trucks prior to the brownouts. This affects not only that safety of the citizens in the browned out area, but also the safety and well being of the firefighters.

Edited June 30, 2009 by mmwolf65

[ajsbear 11]

Mt Vernon has been doing this for years. Just ahead of their time.

I know I'm going to get it over this one but I had to do it.

Edited June 30, 2009 by ajsbear

[nfd2004 750]

AJSBEAR, you are so correct. I remember back in the early 80s when cities like Newark, and Wash., D.C. would randomly close a company where ever an Eng or Truck was stationed together. The city would close one of these companies and keep the other unit still in service. That way the firehouse was still open with the manned rig, and giving J.Q. Citizen the appearance that the firehouse is still open. However only half the orginial crew was there and one, NOT two, rigs were in service. And this was done "Randomly" so it was hard to keep track of what was in service and what was out. If I remember correctly up to five companies would be closed at a time, and it didn"t matter, Day or Night. Since those days until now, the only difference I see is the word "Brownout". They didn"t have a term for it then.

[JFLYNN 681]

Thankfully, although the cities around me are tightening their belts, things haven't gone into brownouts or layoffs. In contrast, guys are giving up pay raises in order to keep staffing levels where they should be....police, fire, and ems- and to make sure no one gets laid off.

One thing being considered here is sending a two man "medical squad" out in the busier FD first response EMS districts, to cut down on fuel and wear and tear on the engines (usually 4-5 guys). As a friend explained to me who works for Austin FD, he stated he would rather defer a raise and temporarily give up some other perks and go home to his wife and kids at night then reduce staffing and increase the danger to himself, his fellow firefighters, and the citizens.

Politics down here are still politics, but thankfully, it's so much different here....different way of thinking about things.

Isn't the policy of sending a two man medical squad from an engine staffed by 4 or 5 actually reducing staffing? Are there two SOG/ SOP books- one for when the engine is adequately staffed and one for when it's not? Should they rename themselves Austin EMS Department (and sometimes we do fires)?

So, the raise and "perks" which had been mutually agreed upon by the union and the city and were "temporarily" deferred...do you think that if we were in the midst of another booming economy that the city would have agreed to open the contract to change the raises to a larger percentage and given some more "perks" as you call them? BTW, these raises and "perks" are what most of us rely on to send our children to school, ballet lessons, go on vacations, etc., etc. We weren't crying during the dot com boom or the real estate bubble when we were out in the streets in all kinds of weather, holidays, etc., and every idiot with a white collar was making big bucks and looking down their noses at us.

Once you show the city that you will give up agreed upon raises or benefits to save jobs you have opened a Pandora's box which will be very hard to close. We live up to our obligations and our employers should live up to theirs. When the contract comes up for negotiation, then talk. Don't ever be ashamed of the fact that we do this for a living, we are worth every penny we are paid and then some, and we will always strive to earn as much as legally possible.

Firefighters and unions in general did not cause this mess we are in.

[x635 4,066]

JFLYNN,

Austin's a VERY different city. The ENTIRE City Of Austin workforce decided to defer raises this year in order to prevent their fellow empoyees from being laid off, and to preserve benefits and pay. The workforce and manager WILL NOT be touching benefits, because that's one of the main reasons people work for the city. I was incorrect when I said perks. However, he has solicited ideas from the workforce to reduce costs, and some of the ideas include things like reducing printing, decreasing library hours, energy conservation initatives, eliminating redundancies, etc.......over 1,000 ideas were submitted and can be viewed on the website linked below. All were considered and near 250 are being implemented, with those employees recieving incentives for their ideas.

City Of Austin "Dollars And Sense" Initative

http://home.kxan.com/news_PDFs/Dollars_Sen...epted_Ideas.pdf

The cops are still getting their raises, but when the economy improves. By TEMPORARILY deffering their raises, they are making it possible to put through a needed cadet class.

Austin police offer to give up or defer raises

Police Chief Art Acevedo has said that the cadet class will help maintain the department's ability to proactively address crime, rather than only responding to calls.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news...11/0611apd.html

Firefighters and the Paramedics are TEMPORARILY deffering their raises to avoid decreased staffing, which would endanger not only themselves, but the public. It would also lead to increased workload.

They fight for their contracts, but they are doing the right thing. The City Manager has been very communicative with the workforce, and asked them how to reduce costs.The City is VERY transparent. A similar situation happened after 9//11 down here, but when the economy recovered the city payed out the raises and backpay. I understand your point about how the City could potentially use this as an excuse at the bargaining table, but it's just not the same here. The cost of living is VERY reasonable, and everyone makes a livable wage. They have to close a $30 million dollar bugget gap caused by decreased sales revenue somehow (there is no state income tax). This whole raise defferal thing is worded into their contract, and they usually benefit at the bargaining table by doing this when contracts come up.

Also, by sending two man medical squads in busier areas, it will free up the 4-5 firefighters on the Engine....not decrease staffing. The firefighters assist EMS on scene and provide first response, even though we have one of the best third service municipal EMS systems in the world. The squads would also supplement firefighting and spec op duties. This would keep the fire engine free for fires, while still maintaining the EMS program.

Unions aren't the same here. They are more concerned with safety, training, and staffing-but don't get me wrong- they still fight for their wages- and get them too. And there aren't as many unions in the city workforce as in the northeast.

Here's an example from a newspaper article:

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/sha...p_raises_p.html

Also, here's a link to the City's website, which will give you more of a picture about how the City operates (which is more like a business then a traditonal northeast government):

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/

[antiquefirelt 994]

Also, by sending two man medical squads in busier areas, it will free up the 4-5 firefighters on the Engine....not decrease staffing. The firefighters assist EMS on scene and provide first response, even though we have one of the best third service municipal EMS systems in the world. The squads would also supplement firefighting and spec op duties. This would keep the fire engine free for fires, while still maintaining the EMS program.

Seth are they doing this by hiring more FFer's to staff the medical squads or pulling guys off of apparatus? Obviously the former would be a fairly proactive step, but would increase the budget, while the former would reduce (even if temporarily) staffing on apparatus. Of course if they're sending the engines on medicals now, that company is OOS until freed, in which case the difference is much less given the company could respond as a two-part company when the medicals crew cleared up.

While I see JFlynn's point, I'm sure in the future this will type of reduction may be the lesser of many evils the fire service will feel as budgets shrink.

Edited June 30, 2009 by antiquefirelt

[x635 4,066]

Seth are they doing this by hiring more FFer's to staff the medical squads or pulling guys off of apparatus? Obviously the former would be a fairly proactive step, but would increase the budget, while the former would reduce (even if temporarily) staffing on apparatus. Of course if they're sending the engines on medicals now, that company is OOS until freed, in which case the difference is much less given the company could respond as a two-part company when the medicals crew cleared up.

I believe they are temporarily reassigning staff and making some other non-line staff changes. For instance, since they are not currently recruiting, they can temporarily assign some ff's and LT's from that division back to the field. They also are opening a new station this year, and added an extra engine to a station due to call volume-which means they have to staff those companies too. The plan changes almost weekly, and nothing will be set in stone until October, when the new fiscal year goes into effect. Again, the squads would be assigned to only the busiest of companies.

Also, I should note Austin has 4-5 firefighters on an Engine, 5 firefighter on a truck, 5-6 firefighter on a Quint (which are usually housed with or very near Engines), and 5-6 firefighter on a Rescue Company

[antiquefirelt 994]

I knew I recalled some controversy at AFD with the new chief. It seems it's heating up once again over a pride parade, promotions that skip ranks to promote diversity (Maybe Chief Kerr has seen the NH20 case and subsequent decision?) and the original controversy : staffing reductions (flexible staffing) would not affect public safety!

http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_sto...asp?ArID=240564

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_ne...amp;ArID=233356

Edited June 30, 2009 by antiquefirelt

[JFLYNN 681]

JFLYNN,

Austin's a VERY different city. The ENTIRE City Of Austin workforce decided to defer raises this year in order to prevent their fellow empoyees from being laid off, and to preserve benefits and pay. The workforce and manager WILL NOT be touching benefits, because that's one of the main reasons people work for the city. I was incorrect when I said perks. However, he has solicited ideas from the workforce to reduce costs, and some of the ideas include things like reducing printing, decreasing library hours, energy conservation initatives, eliminating redundancies, etc.......over 1,000 ideas were submitted and can be viewed on the website linked below. All were considered and near 250 are being implemented, with those employees recieving incentives for their ideas.

http://home.kxan.com/news_PDFs/Dollars_Sen...epted_Ideas.pdf

The cops are still getting their raises, but when the economy improves. By TEMPORARILY deffering their raises, they are making it possible to put through a needed cadet class.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news...11/0611apd.html

Firefighters and the Paramedics are TEMPORARILY deffering their raises to avoid decreased staffing, which would endanger not only themselves, but the public. It would also lead to increased workload.

They fight for their contracts, but they are doing the right thing. The City Manager has been very communicative with the workforce, and asked them how to reduce costs.The City is VERY transparent. A similar situation happened after 9//11 down here, but when the economy recovered the city payed out the raises and backpay. I understand your point about how the City could potentially use this as an excuse at the bargaining table, but it's just not the same here. The cost of living is VERY reasonable, and everyone makes a livable wage. They have to close a $30 million dollar bugget gap caused by decreased sales revenue somehow (there is no state income tax). This whole raise defferal thing is worded into their contract, and they usually benefit at the bargaining table by doing this when contracts come up.

Also, by sending two man medical squads in busier areas, it will free up the 4-5 firefighters on the Engine....not decrease staffing. The firefighters assist EMS on scene and provide first response, even though we have one of the best third service municipal EMS systems in the world. The squads would also supplement firefighting and spec op duties. This would keep the fire engine free for fires, while still maintaining the EMS program.

Unions aren't the same here. They are more concerned with safety, training, and staffing-but don't get me wrong- they still fight for their wages- and get them too. And there aren't as many unions in the city workforce as in the northeast.

Here's an example from a newspaper article:

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/sha...p_raises_p.html

Also, here's a link to the City's website, which will give you more of a picture about how the City operates (which is more like a business then a traditonal northeast government):

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/

Seth, I do agree with you that in some ways, Austin seems very progressive. I like the idea of employees being able to submit ideas to reduce costs and employees receiving incentives for their ideas if used....I would hope that the incentives would be a decent percentage of what is actually saved though and not just a small token.

City's should operate somewhat like businesses, the problem with funding for public safety, i.e. Police, Fire. EMS, is that most business models do not translate well to the framework for what is necessary to provide adequate public safety departments. Some of what we do is measurable by objective standards, i.e. 'the bottom line", but much of what we do is not. That's why the public has very rarely embraced private, for profit companies providing their Police or Fire protection, alla Rural Metro in Rye Brook.

Also, generally, it is highly illegal for a public safety union to strike or have a work slowdown, and our own values and morality would normally not allow us to even consider such measures, so our employers have an equivalent obligation to treat us differently (better) than simply a worker on an assembly line.

I couldn't agree more with union / management cooperation and compromise but this is a two way street.

I'm not so sure the members in Austin are completely happy with their working conditions or if maybe they are just content and afraid to "fight" city hall.

[grumpyff 1,159]

JFLYNN,

The cops are still getting their raises, but when the economy improves. By TEMPORARILY deffering their raises, they are making it possible to put through a needed cadet class.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news...11/0611apd.html

Firefighters and the Paramedics are TEMPORARILY deffering their raises to avoid decreased staffing, which would endanger not only themselves, but the public. It would also lead to increased workload.

They better hope they do not get a mayor like Guiliani or Bloomberg... the unions here heard the same thing in the mid 90's"the economy is bad , we need your help, and when things get better you will get your raises. hence the 'Zeroes for heroes' Contract , where the NYPD got 0,0,3,3, and 6 % from 1993 to 1996. Since then we have to fight for every penny through abitration, the city always had some other excuses as to why we should give up more, under the threat of no raises, or small (try offers of 1% or less). the contract was negociated and signed by both parties, they should have stuck to it. So what if you cant hire another class...not our problem.

[x635 4,066]

They better hope they do not get a mayor like Guiliani or Bloomberg...

See, Austin's goverment is not the same. The Mayor is really just a title, and he's just a member of the City council in the grand scheme of things.

The City Manager really runs the show, and the Council has the final say by voting on things.

From Wikipedia:

Austin is administered by a city council of seven members, each of them elected by the entire city. The council is composed of six council members, and by an elected mayor, accompanied by a hired city manager under the manager-council system of municipal governance. Council and mayoral elections are non-partisan, with a runoff in case there is no majority winner. Austin remains an anomaly among large Texas cities in that council members are elected on an at-large basis by all voters, as opposed to elections by districts

[x635 4,066]

I'm not so sure the members in Austin are completely happy with their working conditions or if maybe they are just content and afraid to "fight" city hall.

I agree...in such a large workforce, you're going to have some people that aren't content. And Austin is a VERY citizen involved city, everyone fights City Hall on everything,lol. There are some labor issues and contention within the FD, as with any large department. They have a new Chief, don't have a current contract, etc.

But if they started browning out or closing stations, people would freak out. Other then some sort of catastropic financial situation, I don't ever see that happening here. In fact, most departments in the metro area are building new stations and adding companies.

More about the FD:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/fire/

[antiquefirelt 994]

But if they started browning out or closing stations, people would freak out. Other then some sort of catastropic financial situation, I don't ever see that happening here. In fact, most departments in the metro area are building new stations and adding companies.

More about the FD:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/fire/

Isn't this actually what they were doing when instituting the "flex-staffing" program? Maybe that fell flat on it's face and the library did have to close a few extra hours?