On August 10 the Riverside County Board of Supervisors scheduled a vote to eliminate community based volunteer fire departments and establish a county-run “reserve volunteer” program similar to how the sheriff’s department utilizes citizen volunteers.
Dave Downey, reporting in an August 09 North County Times article, provides an extensive description of the issue. From his article:
Riverside County wants to place the 525 volunteer firefighters who serve their communities through 50 volunteer fire companies scattered throughout the county into a new “reserve volunteer” program under the control of its Fire Department.
Under a reorganization plan going to the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, no new volunteer fire company could be formed without board approval, after members determined whether there was a need for the service it would provide.
And within the first six months of adopting the plan, the board would review existing volunteer companies to determine whether they should continue serving their respective communities or disband.
The proposal also calls for volunteers to comply with the county’s training standards, background checks, physical fitness tests and record-keeping rules, as well as put in a minimum of 48 hours a month. read the entire article HERE.
BACKGROUND
Riverside County is a massive (7,208 square mile) county with 2.1 million residents. Mostly desert, many Los Angeles and San Diego workers live in the rapidly growing county.
Since 1921 the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFIRE) has provided contract fire suppression services, initially covering the most rural of areas.
Today there are over 1000 CalFIRE employees deployed in Riverside County under a “Cooperative Reimbursement Agreement” with Riverside County, staffing fire suppression equipment from 9 CalFIRE stations, 80 Riverside County stations and 18 contract cities.
The 94 fire stations that make up the county fire department are divided into eight geographic districts. They handle 325 to 350 incidents every day, 82% EMS runs.
COST OF SERVICES/UTILIZATION OF VOLUNTEERS
A continuing increase in the administrative charges from CalFIRE lead the Board of Supervisors to explore establishing their own county fire department.
California uses a grand jury method to analyze municipal operations. A 2008-2009 study looked at the cost of the CalFIRE contract and utilization of volunteers.
The report was issued last summer. You can read the 13 page report HERE.
The county fire department developed a 20 year strategic plan, issued last November. You can read the 79 page plan HERE.
VOLUNTEER OPPOSITION TO CONSOLIDATION
The Riverside County Volunteer Firefighters Association set up a website to oppose the proposal. From their first news release:
Riverside, California (August 5, 2010) — Riverside County Volunteer Firefighters has established a new straight talk website at SAVEOURVOLUNTEERFIREFIGHTERS .ORG in support of their struggle to protect the citizens of this great County, maintain the existing volunteer firefighter program and quell the special interests that want to eliminate them.
The polished interactive campaign website; explains many reasons to keep volunteer firefighters, what will happen if they’re eliminated, asks their supporters to pick from a list of public officials and contact them, sign an online petition of support, keep updated on the latest news and follow their blog.
“We’ve added links to our MySpace, Facebook and Twitter pages too, and encourage our supporters to stay connected with us there”, says Angel Sanchez, Chairman of the Riverside County Volunteer Firefighters Association. He added, “we know the value of social networking in today’s society and want to make sure we’re maximizing our message delivery”. (…)
But the biggest loser will be the public if Riverside County eliminates the Volunteer Firefighter program. We hope the public will rally around us and fight to stop this injustice from happening.”
YOU ALL MUST BE UNION FIREFIGHTERS!
RVC_FF, the Riverside Volunteer Firefighter Association representative that posted a thread on Firehouse.com, was disappointed at the responses received.
In response to posts questioning the accuracy of their assertions and wondering if the website is a one-person campaign, the RVFA representative responded:
Thought we’d get more support from a volunteer forum who understands the plight of VFFs.
You guys must have it pretty good! Or are you paid union FFs cloaked as volunteers?
Either way this is our struggle and it’s real.
ahh, that was an unfortunate choice of words. Then he “outs” one of the posters as being a, gasp, IAFF member! But RVC_FF is not done:
Most paid FFs started out as volunteers and I’ve seen them turn against VFFs later based on the union culture.
I’m an officer and been on the department 5 years with 4 years prior military FF experience and 1 year as seasonal. I know FFs, the fire service and the culture.
Maybe things are good in your departments and your relationship with the paid members/union are also good. I can tell you it’s not good in ours.I wasn’t looking to “litigate the case” here on this forum. Just wanted to let you guys know what’s going on in Riverside County. (You can access the thread HERE)
RVC_FF‘s responses on the firehouse.com discussion board do not seem to be from a person running a “polished interactive campaign.” He is not making friends or adding supporters.
They got my attention with this inflammatory Aug 7 press release: Fire Department Declares Volunteer Firefighters Enemy Combatants in which the headline does not match the body of the press release.
The issue is legitimate. Riverside volunteers do not want to be marginalized like their Orange County colleagues. But the “he-said-she-said” narratives and the hypersensitivity sounds more like a messy domestic abuse/divorce case.
But the county did postpone their vote to September 14th.
Mike “FossilMedic” Ward
Also on FireGeezer…
- Riverside Volunteers Lose County Fight – December 13, 2010
- FossilMedic Followups – September 28, 2010
- Tomorrow’s vote on “Question A” will shape Montgomery County, Maryland’s future – November 1, 2010
- United Firefighters of Los Angeles City protest proposed deployment changes – May 13, 2011
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