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Welcome to the IAFF Frontline News Brief, distributed twice a month to IAFF affiliate leaders and IAFF members. We encourage you to forward this news to your members and others in the fire service.

The Frontline News Brief is delivered directly by email and is also published on the IAFF web site. You can view past issues at http://daily.iaff.org/frontline/morenews.html.

Your feedback is also welcome - email pr@iaff.org with questions and comments.
 

"New Web Site Provides Resources for Planning and Executing Fire Ops 101 " (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"Still Alive but No Pay Raise" (11Alive News )
"Alarming Gaffes Stir Fury" (Detroit Free Press)
"Fire departments may be close to merger" (Indianapolis Star)
"Operation Helmet Assists IAFF Members and Soldiers Serving in Iraq" (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"Fire Fighter-Supported Candidates Win in June 6 Primaries" (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"Anti-Terror Funding Cut in D.C. and New York" (The Washington Post)
"IAFF Partners With NPI to Offer EMS Education " (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"Stand Down for Fire Fighter Safety Is June 21" (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"A Hands-On Tribute to the Pain and Valor of 9/11" (The New York Times)
"Large Bills Coming Due for Retired Police, Fire Fighters" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
"FEMA Chief Paulison Wins Senate Approval" (Firehouse.com)
"Kettering fire union wants full-time force" (Dayton Daily News)
"Rhode Island Fire Fighters Support U.S. Troops " (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"Maxwell House 'Sprucing Up' Seven IAFF Firehouses " (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"How 'Rescue Me' Stays Good and Hot" (USA Today)

"Frontline News Brief" is Sponsored By:

New Web Site Provides Resources for Planning and Executing Fire Ops 101
International Association of Fire Fighters (06/08/06)

The IAFF has launched a new Fire Ops 101 web site to assist affiliates in planning and conducting Fire Ops 101 events for their local political leaders and media representatives. "Fire Ops 101 is the best opportunity for local decision makers and members of the media to literally 'feel the heat' and experience what every IAFF member faces on a daily basis," says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. "The program also helps locals to build relationships with elected officials and the media, and provides those decision makers with a greater understanding and appreciation of what it is to be a fire fighter and the importance of providing first responders with the training, equipment and other resources needed to do the job."
(Web Link)
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Still Alive but No Pay Raise
11Alive News (Atlanta)

Atlanta, Georgia Mayor Shirley Franklin's new city budget does not include any pay raises for fire fighters. She refuses to comment publicly about the fire fighters' disappointment regarding her decision. In November 2004, IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger led members of Atlanta Local 134 and hundreds of fire fighters for a rally at City Hall to protest Franklin's broken election promises on pay and staffing. The mayor is recommending pay raises for police officers of 3.5 percent. As the budget proposal works its way through the Council, fire fighters want to know  why there is such disparity. Atlanta fire fighter Logan Dean says he can't understand why Mayor Franklin, year after year, recommends higher pay raises for police officers than for fire fighters, especially since starting pay for a fire fighter is still about 7 percent less than for a police officer. "I came to work for the city of Atlanta because this is the hub of the Southeast. We're supposed to be setting a standard for everyone around us, and we keep running into the same problems. I just want to know from her why we are worth less than the police officers," says Dean. Atlanta Fire Lieutenant Carleton Jinks, a member of Atlanta Local 134, says, "It's unbelievable that fire fighters place their lives on the line, yet the city wants to treat fire fighters like a third class citizen. We're becoming a first class city, but they want to pay us like third class citizens. I look at it as a travesty." The union will lobby the City Council to grant the pay raises the mayor is not recommending, just as the Council did last year, and the year before that, after fire fighters rallied public support behind the raises.
(Web Link)
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Alarming Gaffes Stir Fury
Detroit Free Press (05/30/06); McGraw, Bill

Since Detroit revamped its 911 system in September 2005, the response time of fire fighters to fires has hit some road bumps. The new system has had trouble relaying information to the fire department's computers, which has been the usual conduit for dispatching fire trucks, and, as a result, snafus have ensnared Detroit's 911 operators and fire fighters in a bit of a blame game. In March 2006, fire fighters rushed to a report of fire only to discover the actual fire was three miles away. Two additional homes caught fire during the time squandered by the mix-up. Dispatchers from 911 verbally must relay information by radio or telephone to specific firehouses rather than send it via computer to multiple nearby firehouses as a printout like before. Detroit Local 344 President Dan McNamara says this "managerial and technical failure" needs to be fixed before more incidents happen. Fire fighters involved in the March mix-up and a subsequent one say the 911 operators gave them the wrong street names. In addition, the Detroit Fire Department has faced budget cuts that axed 59 employees and five trucks in 2006.
(Web Link)
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Fire departments may be close to merger
Indianapolis Star (06/13/06)

Indianapolis and Washington Township, Indiana, are close to reaching  an agreement on merging the city's two largest fire departments. Discussions about the consolidation resumed in the past three weeks after breaking down in November.  Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson's plan to merge all eight township fire departments with the Indianapolis Fire Department is projected to save $21 million. S upported by the majority of fire fighters and Indianapolis, IN Local 416, the agreement ensures that fire protection and emergency medical service levels would stay the same or improve and that savings from the merger would defer a tax increase for three years.
(Web Link)
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Operation Helmet Assists IAFF Members and Soldiers Serving in Iraq
International Association of Fire Fighters (05/26/06)

In an effort to keep IAFF members serving overseas as members of the Reserve Forces and National Guard safe, the IAFF is supporting Operation Helmet, an effort to provide soldiers with potentially life-saving upgrades to ballistic helmets - free of charge. These upgrades are currently only issued to the military's most elite forces and do not filter down to Reserve and National Guard forces and, unfortunately, these and the many other soldiers who make up half of the nation's military personnel deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan are serving without the proper equipment to ensure their safety.
(Web Link)
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Fire Fighter-Supported Candidates Win in June 6 Primaries
International Association of Fire Fighters (06/14/06)

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and its state and local affiliates are working hard to help elect fire fighter-friendly candidates in the upcoming November elections. On June 6, several states held primary elections in which fire fighter-friendly candidates emerged victorious.
(Web Link)
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Anti-Terror Funding Cut in D.C. and New York
The Washington Post (06/01/06) P. A1; Eggen, Dan and Sheridan, Mary Beth

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced how much anti-terrorism funding each of 46 cities would receive under its Urban Areas Security Initiative program. Some cities gained funding while others lost funding. The results prompted an immediate outcry from officials in New York City and Washington, DC, which suffered 40 percent in cuts in the amount of funding they will receive in 2006. New York City's funding drops from roughly $207 million to $124 million, while Washington's was slashed from $77 million to $46 million. Curiously, the DHS' risk assessment for New York City, which helped determine the amount of funding, shows that the city has "zero" national monuments or icons. Undersecretary for Preparedness George Foresman said that the money distributed by the program is intended to improve preparations for both terrorist attacks and natural disasters, yet Katrina-battered New Orleans saw its funding slashed from $9.3 million to $4.6 million. Meanwhile, funding for Boston was slashed by 30 percent, San Diego by 46 percent and Phoenix by 61 percent. Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta received increases in funding, as did St. Louis, Charlotte, Louisville and the Jersey City-Newark area, where the amount increased from $19 million to $34 million. Louisville intends to improve its first responders' communications abilities, while Washington may be forced to shelve plans to build "mass care shelters" and improve communications infrastructure.
(Web Link)
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IAFF Partners With NPI to Offer EMS Education
International Association of Fire Fighters (06/02/06)

The International Association of Fire Fighters has partnered with National Paramedic Institute (NPI) to offer continuing education credits for IAFF first responder, EMT and paramedic members. The new partnership with NPI allows IAFF members to access Medic Monthly, NPI's online educational series.
 
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Stand Down for Fire Fighter Safety Is June 21
International Association of Fire Fighters (06/14/06)

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), along with the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and 20 other fire service organizations are calling for the nation's fire departments to observe a "Stand Down" for fire fighter safety beginning Wednesday, June 21, 2006, and continuing until all shifts have been completed. The IAFF is urging its affiliates and their fire departments to suspend all non-emergency activity and instead focus entirely on fire fighter safety.
(Web Link)
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A Hands-On Tribute to the Pain and Valor of 9/11
The New York Times (06/11/06); Dunlap, David W.

The first large-sized 9/11 monument at ground zero dedicated to the 343 fire fighters who died was dedicated June 10 across the street from the World Trade Center site. The 56-foot-long bronze mural was unveiled during a ceremony that coincided with the fourth anniversary of the Fire Department's cessation of recovery operations at the site. Family members who attended the ceremony rubbed the inscribed names of those who died, which are arranged by rank. Fire fighter Angel L Juarbe Jr.'s mother said, "I wish his name was not on that wall. He made us proud. He gave too much." One young boy said, "This [rubbing] is all I have of my father." For additional information, visit http://www.ufoa.org or http://www.ufalocal94.org/.
(Web Link)
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Large Bills Coming Due for Retired Police, Fire Fighters
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (05/30/06)

Many cities, towns and port districts across the state of Washington will soon have to make good on the retirement benefit promises they made to police and fire fighters decades ago. In all, some $1 billion in medical costs is expected to be covered by public funds under the Law Enforcement and Fire Fighters Plan 1 (LEOFF-1), which was replaced by a more modest plan in 1977 but still covers as many as 9,000 retirees. The public sector made generous retirement medical promises in the 1960s and 1970s to lure public servants at a time when the salaries they were offered were much lower than in the private sector. Now, there is concern about the effects on cities of shouldering the cost of keeping these promises. An additional concern is that new accounting rules will soon force local governments to include future retiree medical costs on their balance sheets, and that this could harm cities' bond ratings. Skamania County Commissioner Paul Pearce predicts, "I think you're going to see the counties and cities banging on the legislature's door, saying 'You created a pension system and it's bankrupting us.'" However, Mike Rose of the Spokane fire fighters' disability board argues that local governments "had funding mechanisms since 1970 and they chose not to prepare. They didn't set the money aside. And now it's time."
(Web Link)
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FEMA Chief Paulison Wins Senate Approval
Firehouse.com (05/26/06); Jordan, Lara Lakes

The Senate unanimously confirmed R. David Paulison May 26 as the chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), ensuring that his position was solidified before the 2006 hurricane season begins on June 1. Paulison, who has previously served as head of the U.S. Fire Administration, had been serving as acting director of FEMA since September.
(Web Link)
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Kettering fire union wants full-time force
Dayton Daily News (06/12/06); Ullmer, Katherine

Kettering, OH Local 2150 is asking the city for a full-time fire department to get faster response times. Kettering is one of the larger fire departments using volunteer fire fighters. Joel Busch, president of Local 2150, which represents 39 of the city's 48 full-time fire fighters, says, "Real change is needed in Kettering's fire department to save lives and property." He is distributing information to the public comparing full-time with volunteer response times. Kettering City Manager Mark Schwieterman has received calls about the pamphlet and several residents showed up at a recent city council meeting questioning the city's fire protection. Schwieterman says, "We've agreed to look at the fire department with this fire chief and look at solutions to better the fire department." But, he adds, "We believe it's working now." Busch also says Kettering has days when there aren't enough volunteers to keep fire stations open so the response has to come from the next-closest station. The city could get rid of volunteers or bring in more full-timers to balance the response 24 hours a day, he says.
(Web Link)
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Rhode Island Fire Fighters Support U.S. Troops
International Association of Fire Fighters (06/13/06)

Providence, RI Local 799 participated in Hero to Hero, a nationwide program to support military troops deployed overseas. As part of the program, fire fighters and police personnel literally take "the shirts off their backs," sign them with messages of support and send them to men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. This year, Hero to Hero organizers hope to collect at least 10,000 T-shirts.
(Web Link)
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Maxwell House 'Sprucing Up' Seven IAFF Firehouses
International Association of Fire Fighters (05/31/06)

Members of seven IAFF locals are among the winners in the Maxwell House/HGTV "Spruce Up Your Firehouse" photo-essay contest. Tonawanda, NY Local 859; Little Miami, OH Local 4380; Maple Heights, OH Local 1184; Detroit, MI Local 344; Orlando, FL Local 1365; Philadelphia, PA Local 22; and Indian Rocks, FL Local 3206 firehouses were selected to receive $10,000 in renovations.
(Web Link)
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How 'Rescue Me' Stays Good and Hot
USA Today (05/30/06); Levin, Gary

The fire fighter-oriented drama "Rescue Me," featuring Denis Leary as fire fighter Tommy Gavin, who will be struggling this season to protect the family of fire fighters he works with and trusts, after last season's tragedies in his own family. The character, still grieving over the death of his son and his inability to restart an estranged marriage, is now concerned that his crew of fire fighters will be dismantled, creating the possibility that he will have to work with another crew with whom he has not built up the same trust and respect. Although the show's themes are often dark, they underline the tragic events with the resigned humor of those who have to face tragic events as part of life.
(Web Link)
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© copyright 2006 International Association of Fire Fighters