Los Angeles Rescuers Protest `Brownouts`

About 100 firefighters marched at City Hall today (Aug. 5) to protest $39 million in service cutbacks that they claim will cost lives.

United Firefighters of Los Angeles City President Pat McOsker said a plan to take 15 fire trucks and nine ambulances out of service every day starting Thursday would increase emergency response times.

"In my line of work, a few seconds' delay could mean the difference between life and death," he said.

Wearing blue shirts, the firefighters gathered in front of the City Hall parking entrance on Main Street, waving signs at city officials entering the building.

At 10 a.m., they walked to the City Council chamber, taking up several rows of audience seats.

"Every day in the city, we get there in the nick of time and save lives, and that's because of the number of resources we have," McOsker told the council.

"When you take away 10 percent of the resources we have, we already know what's going to happen," McOsker said. "We're going to have delayed responses. The result of delayed responses is death."

He said that in 1991, when the Fire Department last took some of its fire engines and ambulances out of service to cut costs, there were "bad outcomes for patients" and "tragic fire deaths."

McOsker said firefighters recognize the city's dire financial situation and are willing to be flexible in labor negotiations.

McOsker noted the city made generous concessions to the 22,000-member Coalition of L.A. City Unions, while making only one offer -- which he described as "insulting" -- to the 3,500-member UFLAC.

"We'll make whatever sacrifice is necessary to get this city through this crisis," he said. "Nobody sacrifices more than firefighters. For the last 120 years, we've had 200 names on a memorial wall in Hollywood to remind you that, if anyone has forgotten."

McOsker said UFLAC recently submitted a "stand alone" offer to the city. Councilwoman Janice Hahn urged the city's Executive Employee Relations Committee to take up the offer during its meeting Thursday.

According to Hahn, the offer called for firefighters to defer their excess sick payout and uniform allowance this fiscal year. The move would save the city $4.2 million, more than enough to potentially cancel the planned shutdown of fire engines and ambulances throughout the month of August.

Fire Chief Douglas Barry developed the "Modified Coverage Plan" -- or "brownouts" -- to reduce spending by $39 million. It calls for not staffing one battalion command team, three emergency battalion offices, 15 fire trucks and nine ambulances every day for a year starting Thursday.

The "brownouts" would occur on a rotating basis at different fire stations throughout the city. The 87 firefighters assigned to those units will be used to fill vacancies on remaining fire trucks and ambulances which would otherwise have been staffed by off-duty employees working overtime.

Barry stressed the plan would keep all of the city's fire stations open and staffed with at least one fire truck or ambulance. Still, he admitted it would lengthen response times, further increase the workload at fire stations, and make fewer fire engines available for pre-deployment to areas with high fire danger.

Barry has described the budget cuts as "devastating."

Aside from "brownouts," the department also plans to stop recruiting new firefighters and maintain only one academy class instead of the current three.

Even with all those cost-cutting measures, the Fire Department remains $13 million in the red.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has asked the City Council to close the deficit by transferring money from the Reserve Fund, but Councilman Bernard Parks, chair of the council's Budget and Finance Committee, said there was no guarantee the city will have that cash available.

If funding cannot be secured, Barry plans to shut down an additional eight fire resources -- either fire trucks or ambulances -- every day for a year, resulting in a total of 125 fewer fire department personnel working daily.