Response from Councilman Bob Apple...

John Griffith, Local #29 Executive Board:

Thank you, for your comments on the new, phone system. I completely agree and have been becoming more vocal, with my displeasure since it went into effect last September, simply it is not compatible with almost everything existing and requires a wealth of patches and persistent problems. Your City approved approximately $3 million early last year and none of the promises made, have been forthcoming further, the system provider gave notice shortly after installation, that they would no longer provide maintenance and that we would need a sub-provider.

Last week we approved nearly $ .5 million, of transferred around money we do not have because, somebody apparently convinced someone they could "patch" our way out of this financial disaster. Unfortunately, I've witnessed with such city contracts, a complete lack of any performance standards and unwillingness to hold vendors accountable and in my opinion, this system is a fraud that has and will cost city employee jobs. There is a great deal more wrong with this system and at this time, I do not believe those management of our city who are responsible and if nothing else, they should be held accountable.

At least three members of your city council, asked for a review of this system by a specific well known company and were lead to believe it was in the works, only to be told months later it was not needed and an old study by an unknown vendor, should suffice our concerns. Certainly, we do not have the money to go back and our City should have never endeavored into the apparent attempt, at forming our own distinct system and instead of proven one's. I'am so mad, about this system and the lies told because, yours is only one of a growing stack of serious complains.

Bob Apple, Spokane City Council

Letter to City Council regarding city phone system...

Members of Local 29 are on the frontline of Spokane's new era of "customer service." But, for quite some time, we've had an unnecessary impediment placed in front of us.

The Internet-based phone system went into effect, coincidentally, as we announced the loss of over 50 positions from the fire department.

This system is a degradation from our previous conventional phone system. Sound quality is poor. And often the phone cuts in and out. It is very frustrating. More importantly, it is frustrating to our citizens (or in the current lingo - "customers"). When they call the stations to schedule CPR, report an emergency or ask a home safety question, frequently a firefighter has to apologize that he is unable to understand what the caller is saying, as the phone cuts in and out. Some of the more resourceful members might direct citizens to call them on their personal cell phones, before terminating the conversation on the city phone.

I know our IMS folks have been working hard to solve the many shortcomings of this new system. And I'm sure they will eventually fix the problems.

But members of Local 29 are wondering about the whys and the wherefores of this phone system. Recently there have been news articles claiming that an Internet-based phone system is not yet a viable alternative to a conventional phone system. To clarify these issues with our members, we respectfully request answers to these questions:


1. How much did the new system cost? We've heard every phone cost $500 - with an overall cost of two-million dollars.
2. From our end, the old conventional system was never broken. Is this true?
3. What was the process the city employed which resulted in buying into this program? Who were the "players" in this process?
4. Was there ever concern that this technology was still in its infancy, and that financially and operationally it would be prudent to delay implementation?
5. What, if any, performance standards were guaranteed by the vendor?
6. Can the citizens' money be refunded? Can we go back to a conventional phone system, improve telephonic customer service and hire back some of our firefighters?

Thank you very much,


John Griffith
Local 29 Executive Board Member
Spokane Citizen

San Juan Hiring....

This link takes you to Orcas Fire. On their website is a link to download the application. Jenny also has an application at the office.

Interesting fire suppression article from June 2005 WIRED Magazine

If you get a chance to pick up this magazine, there's usually something worth reading. And this month is no exception.

SEATTLE PI EDITORIAL REGARDING INITIATIVE 336

The other night at the union meeting, many of you wanted some information regarding the initiative the WSCFF endorsed. Besides the link above, here are a couple of websites - one pro, one anti.

PRO I-336

http://www.bettersafercare.org/


ANTI I-336, PRO I-330

http://www.yesoni330.org/

From Brother Kevin Haughton - job opening...

Click to view

From Brother Chuck Serquina...

The Spokesman-Review had an ad for lateral entry firefighter on Sunday. You must have 2 years experience, and be WA EMT. Maybe our unions can talk and get us an exception on the 2 year thing? Applications are available at Lacey Fire District Three, 1231 Franz St. SE, Lacey, WA 98503 or 360-491-2410
 
Chuck Serquina


Greg is/has called Lacey Fire to ask about waiving the 2 year requirement. I'll let you know as soon as I hear. John

P.S. Interesting how many Washington cities are hiring firefighters right now. And in Spokane, we've seen record real estate development and many new businesses open this year. I've lived here most of my life, and frankly, I've never seen such a vibrant Spokane economy.

We've cut our fire department to where we were a century ago. Yet, we are still faced with an overall city budget shortfall. Maybe there's a lag factor to all the new property taxes and other revenue associated with our boom here in Spokane. We'll (the e-board) try to find out what's the story. And when we do, we'll tell you. John

More on the Cheney FF Golf Tourney

First, thank you Brother Ladd for forwarding the Cheney Firefighters Golf Tournament registration form on Local 29's Blog! Second, I would like to encourage all you Local 29 golfers to join us at this years tournament. The tournament will be held at the Indian Canyon Golf Course on Saturday May 21st and all the proceeds will go to MDA. I hope to see you all out there!

Thanks,
Donovan Cathey
Cheney Firefighters Local 1919"

Golf Tournament Entry Form

This in from Brother Bob (Ladd). Click on the link to download the Cheney Fire Department Golf Tornament entry form ( WORD Doc).

Good news from Brother Jhar Fuller!

"Hey I wanted to pass on some more good news; Matt Binder got hired at Port Ludlow Fire Department. He starts April 1st, just like the rest of us guys that got picked up by Sno 1."

Jhar also said that there is a good chance that Jason Myers could be hired by the Nampa Fire Department.

Congrats to all. Spokane has lost some very great folks because of these layoffs. It's good to see that other places know quality when they see it.

Brother DJ Hill has found some new FF job openings...

Island County Fire Dist 1, 360-629-3008, PM/FF 3 positions
San Juan County Fire Dist 2, 360-376-2331 PM/FF 1 position

What I have learned and what I will do...

In posting these comments that Jeff and I have been exchanging, I see that I have gotten a little long-winded, so I will try to summarize briefly some things I have learned in our conversation.

1. I have learned our brother professional firefighters in District 8 believe that many of their colleagues in the city, look down upon their capabilities.

A. I was unaware of these feelings of bias, other than when there is a working fire in District 8, many of us believe they might not, intrinsically, have enough staffing for adequate fire suppression.

i) Having now learned of already existing hurt feelings, I can see how my comments were seen, by some firefighters in District 8, as "another slam" against District 8 firefighters. Again, I apologize.

2. Even though Local29.blogspot.com is for Local 29 members, it is a website that many others view.

A. I already knew this, but I realize that I made a mistake by not taking into consideration the feelings of folks not affiliated with Local 29 who might be reading the website.

i) Upon reflection, I can also see how members of the media who are reading the blog (and they do), might feel slighted by comments made by me and Jeff during our discussion. I apologize to any members of the media who may have been offended.

I would like to move beyond apologies and state what I will do:

1. I will write and/or post entries that take into account the feelings of others, not just Local 29 members.

2. I invite media members to contact me on ways that we can help them get the word out on what we do as Spokane Firefighters. Would it help if we put together a weekly fire blotter, featuring how many runs we went on, broken down into categories, with a couple of stories highlighted and expanded?

3. I will rewrite the offending blog entry and post it as a new entry soon.

4. I won't post entries immediately after being up all night at work!

Thanks for reading, John

Jeff Responds...

John,

I did not realize at the time that you had a pen name although it would not have changed my response to your posting. 

I have read your explanation and writings about the spokesman-Review. It may be true but it casts a negative light on my local and my department not to mention virtually all locals in the county in the eyes of your members. What they see through those eyes now when anyone mentions Fire District 8 is "oh yeah those guys on the south hill that don't have a clue about being a firefighter", which we both know is not true. All of our people go through the same recruits schools and the same training. You went through academy with Steve Bailey who works for us, I know this because I taught parts of your recruit school. I don't think most of your members know that we do this work together. It has been a great tool to help bond our two departments as well as District 9, 10 and the Valley.

I took your advise and focused on the phrase "our job" and the fact that it is all "our job" but I'm still having difficulty qualifying it when I read the whole passage.

"Heard the call come in for the fire on Ashton - District 8. An engine arrived and then called for Spokane to help and then the Valley. Amazing video and print coverage. But the recent multiple fires in the city were not worth stories in the Spokesman-Review because we do our job and put fires out before they become great videos".

I do understand that you are making a point about the Spokesman-Review. It's easy to see but in order to get there you made my job look really bad. Now when my guys, and I'm sure about 95% of your guys and girls read this what they are going to pick up on is "District 8 sucks". (This may confuse a few as directly above this posting you wrote a note letting your laid off members know that District 8 is is hiring and promoting going to work for us).

I believe that part of the problem is the misconception that everyone outside of the City and Valley are all volunteers. Let me give you a little example of what I'm talking about. Three days ago E81 took an MVA on the city/county boarder in which PL11 responded after our unit. When 11's arrived one of the scene on E81 had the pt extricated and boarded and both crews loaded the pt in the AMB. When it was all said and done one of the city guys (who lives in my fire district) made the comment "you mean there are paid guys in District 8". The District can be faulted for the lack of pub/ed and marketing of our fire district to its citizens but I really would like to see the work spread throughout the city that you aren't the only game in town.

OK back to by point on the volunteers. In your initial posting you did not mention the word volunteer although in your explanation to me you talk to that subject many times. You almost make it sound as if I where defending them in my e-mail to you which I was not. John trust me I understand as well as the professional members from Fire District 9, 10, Cheney, and the Airport that volunteer firefighters do not do this as "their job". In fact we know this way better then you could even begin to understand, as we have to deal with it on a daily basis.  It would be correct for you to assume as you do in your 3rd paragraph that I, as the president of my local, would agree that a fully staffed professional fire departments is preferable over volley's. In a perfect world that would be great. Unfortunately  you are the minority and always will be as a fully paid fire department. That is the reality in today's world.

Thanks for the atta boy on the efforts on the Ashton fire. To answer your question "Have there been any other fires that you've been on where the outcome would have been better, had you responded immediately with multiple apparatus staffed fully by firefighters whose only "job" that day was to be a professional firefighter? Come on John what do you think my answer is goingto be to that. The problem in my District isn't that we don't send multiple apparatus (which everyone does) staffed by fully paid firefighters, heck on the Ashton fire 90% of the people their where paid firefighters, the problem is the fact that my next due station is 10 minutes away. That is why sometimes we need to call for help from our brothers and sisters to the North. And by the way we are more then willing to return the favor when you are short handed. We don't mind covering 11's and 14's when the city is short due to "the big one". Yeah sometimes its a pain in the ass but its all in the name of helping out our union brother & sisters.  

I know that you guys are frustrated with the S-R. We have all been there either with bad press on our dysfunctional board or the fact we can't pass an M&O although, none of the other locals have had to endure the layoff nightmare that Local 29 has had to deal with and the lack of coverage there. I watch and read the local news everyday and know the coverage on your plight is horrible. Sitting at the forum this year listening to Ellie tell the story about the Cowles families distain for the Spokane Fire Department back in the early days makes me think that things haven't changed much. I have told Greg, Mike, and Mark that if there is anything we can do we will be there as I'm sure the other 5 County Locals would be.

Let me end by saying I'm sure that you did offend a few of the professionals from around the area as they probably took your comments the wrong way just as my guys did. For the past 15 years that I have been in the fire service there has always been animosity between the City Fire Department and the rest of the County Professionals which makes it easy for this type of thing to manifest itself into a huge problem. I say its time to beak down the walls that unfortunately still exists between the City and the rest of us. It is imperative that WE START TO COMMUNICATE BETTER AT OUR LEVEL. THE LINE LEVEL. It is ridicules that in today's age we are still having these stupid turf wars/they don't know what the hell they are doing out there BS. I am proud to say that I have many close friend that work for the Spokane Fire Department and we are trying to move together united as one group to open these communication lines. Hopefully this discussion helps us meet this goal. On behalf of your brothers in District 8 I accept your apology and we look forward to working with you on making our relationship better.

Thank You,

Jeff

P.S. Please do put all of our correspondence including this one in the order they were written on the site. I think it will help open some eyes. Thanks again John.

Local 29 E-Board Member, John Griffith's response to previous post by Local 3711 President Jeff Wainwright...

Jeff,

Let me deconstruct the sentence in question: "An engine arrived and then called for Spokane to help and then the Valley. Amazing video and print coverage. But the recent multiple fires in the city were not worth stories in the Spokesman-Review because we do our job and put fires out before they become great videos."

Focusing upon the phrase "our job" - I used it in the very literal sense. Like you and some in your district, city firefighters are professional firefighters, that is we are paid because it is "our job" to be firefighters. The big difference is that in the city, we are all paid (professional) firefighters - it is all of our "job." And as dedicated, proficient and experienced as your volunteers may be, firefighting is not their "job." I say this not to denigrate their volunteerism in the community, but to point out that your volunteers make their living in other ways than being firefighters for District 8.

And I would assume that as, Local 3711 President, you would agree that a fire department that is fully staffed by professionals is preferable to one staffed by a combination of professional and volunteer firefighters, or all volunteers.

I applaud your efforts at the house fire, and it sure sounds like all that was done could be done. I'm certainly not in a position to Monday-morning-quarterback you or your crew's efforts. But let me ask you this: Have there been any other fires that you've been on where the outcome would have been better, had you responded immediately with multiple apparatus staffed fully by firefighters whose only "job" that day was to be a professional firefighter?

When I wrote this blog entry, I had just come home after a 48 hour shift with three working structure fires. They were all (to varying degrees) saves. No story in the paper. In the wake of our layoffs, I found it frustrating that our citizens are shielded (via the Spokesman) from knowing what their tax dollars provide, in terms of fire protection.

Yesterday, we were first-in on a garage that was fully involved, in a tightly packed neighborhood with countless exposures. Again, today - no story. I know that, if we were a lone engine company (professional or not) responding to this fire, it could have been a lot worse. And the S-R would have had some great copy.

In closing, let me apologize if I offended any of your members. That was not my intent. In a nutshell, what I was trying to say was: 1. Fire departments that are fully staffed by professionals will make more stops than those staffed with volunteers, 2. The Spokesman-Review is not interested in stops, but in the fires that aren't stopped.

As a professional firefighter, IAFF Local President and reader of the Spokesman-Review, would you disagree? If you would like to meet to talk more about this issue, I would be more than happy to oblige.

Fraternally,

John Griffith (AKA Bill Foss)
Local 29 E-Board Member

District 8, Local 3711 President Jeff Wainright objects to posting of 3-1-05...

Good Morning Brother,

This morning when I got to work the shift getting off of my engine company (E81) let me know you had posted a note on the L-29 site that they took as a "Bash" on District 8 and in particular my engine company. The quote that made them a little hot under the collar was posted on 3-1-05 and goes something to the effect...

"An engine arrived and then called for Spokane to help and then the Valley. Amazing video and print coverage. But the recent multiple fires in the city were not worth stories in the Spokesman-Review because we do our job and put fires out before they become great videos"

Now I should probably take this as a "Bash" to as I was the Lieutenant on that engine company that called for the help right off the bat that afternoon. The part you are missing from this story to your members is that the fire started in the basement and from the time of the first 9-1-1 call until I was taking a line off the rig to the front door was less then six minutes, oh and did I mention that my size-up consisted of "we have heavy fire out of the basement, the main floor is almost fully involved and we have fire from the windows on the second floor A-side". Try to keep in mind that I gave this size-up about 5 to 5 1/2 minutes after the first 9-1-1 call was received. How many times have you been on a fire 2 in the afternoon on a sunday, with 3 people at home and working smoke detectors that are monitored by ADT in the house and you arrive to find this scenario. Does something sound a little fishy to you. My point is this house was gone before we ever got the call and my 3 person engine company as well as every other responding company did everything they could to make the out come as good as possible.

I read your posting and I understand that you are probably trying to make a point about that rag of a news paper and all that slow news day for the local TV news stuff that goes on but I would contend that your brothers to the south actually "do their job" everyday and do it the same way that you do. We also have house fires that are "good stops" you never hear about because they are stopped in the first room and the news never even shows up. In a day in which we (all of the professional IAFF Fire Departments and Districts) are trying to work more closely together and foster new camaraderie between our neighboring brothers and sisters my members find it a bit disheartening when they read postings and other printed material that use them as the county whipping boys.

My hope is that you where just "bashing" the news media and did not mean to down grade my guys dedication to the fire service and to the image we try to portray of ALL professional firefighters across the county. If your intent was to "Bash" my guys then we probably need to sit down and have a discussion. Hope to hear from you soon.


Fraternally,


Jeffrey P wainwright, President
International Association of Fire Fighters 3711
State Representative for Washington
International Association of Fire Fighters AFO-CIO-CLC

Newsletter deadline

If you have something you want in the newsletter, please get it to me on, or before, March 25th. Thanks, John

Jerry Sander is Back!

Yes, that is Jerrry you've been seeing. He was at the top of the laid-off list. With Jim Eggers' retirement, Jerry is back to work. Congrats Jim on your retirement and best wishes. And welcome back, Jerry.

District 8 is hiring...

Bob Ladd called me tonight to pass on the word that District 8 is hiring. No word yet on laterals. Click on the link above to visit District 8's website. Applications available on-line. Position closes March 18th.

Looking for stories on the good stops? Don't Read the Spokesman-Review. Click to watch REAL video of KXLY story about the 5 fires of the past 3 days.

Heard the call come in for the fire on Ashton - District 8. An engine arrived and then called for Spokane to help and then the Valley. Amazing video and print coverage. But the recent multiple fires in the city were not worth stories in the Spokesman-Review because we do our job and put fires out before they become great videos. All the folks who write editorials in the Spokesman-Review, questioning the worth of a fully-staffed professional fire department, never know what we have done. Unfortunately, now that our staffing is stretched so thin, it's only a matter of time before the Spokesman takes some gruesome pictures and writes some tragic copy. It would be nice to read some pro-active news stories before we get to that point - but I'm not going to hold my breath - unless I really have to.

Dramatic Water Rescue of Dog at Cannon Hill Park!

I was too late on the scene to get any photos, but E-4's crew expertly pulled the dog off the ice and water that is Cannon Hill Pond, this afternoon. Apparently without need of jet boat, ice walker or certification... Bystanders had a canoe.

Family members were reunited with their beloved pet while Spokane's media recorded the event. Water Two was training on the river at the time, so they were unavailable. Oh well, next time!

Huzzah to E-4 and a tip of the Swift Water Rescue Speedo to you...