 |
July-August 2009 |
 |
|
|
|
Call to Arms
Spot fires are appearing through out this country, and if we do not turn our attention to extinguishing them immediately they will burn out of control and into a raging inferno that will spread across the country so quickly that all our resources will be insufficient! The spot fires I am referring to are the attacks on the hard-earned benefits that our unions have struggled to acquire over the last 30 years.
As the recession has trickled down from the federal government to the state governments to the cities and the citizens, everyone is looking at their budgets with renewed scrutiny. Council members see the high cost of police and fire salaries and benefits as a means of forcing the citizens to make the choice of higher taxes or reduced services. Of course, you will never see a ballot measure asking citizens to reduce council members' pay and benefits or raise taxes!
Locally, two chiefs of department were able to manipulate their retirements to outrageous levels, both in relatively small communities of less than 50,000 populations. By the time the newspapers revealed the inequity, the chiefs were retired and left the publicity fires for the rest of us to extinguish!
Newspapers regularly contain articles from columnists and citizens questioning our “youthful” retirement benefits. We must vigorously respond to every one of these spot fires. They know no jurisdictional boundaries and once the fire is allowed to burn the conflagration will ravage us all!
There is only one extinguishing agent appropriate — education. Firefighters are the most trusted profession. Why do you think so many commercials feature firefighters as spokesmen? We must use this cherished trust to educate our constituents to the facts that delayed responses costs lives and property. There are facts to support the cost of a delayed response. Politicians and their subordinates (chiefs of department, remember the above-mentioned retirements) will stare straight into the news cameras and declare that the closure of the nearby fire station had no effect on the fires outcome. By NFPA standards, the vast majority of fire departments were responding with under staffed engines and trucks before the cutbacks.
A recent “Letter to the Editor” cited the fact that firefighting, while a dangerous job, has fewer fatalities than truck drivers, construction workers and loggers. The statistic the author quoted failed to take into account job-related heart attacks, cancer and brain tumors. If it had, he would have learned that firefighting is by far the most dangerous occupation in the United States. While a pension after 30 years of service may sound like retirement at a young age, after 30 years of fire service a firefighter’s body is pretty well used up. Dragging hose, lifting gurneys and running power saws takes a heavy toll on your body. It is a physically challenging job in your 20’s, 30’s and 40’s!
In California, two possible ballot initiatives are under consideration. The first initiative would allow the state to impose a personal income tax on pension benefits in excess of $40,000 per year. This tax would be in addition to the 1 percent to 9.3 percent progressive state tax. An example would be a couple earning just over $75,000 a year in retirement benefits would pay approximately 5 percent state tax or $3,800 and an additional $15,000 plus 40 percent on anything over $75,000 for a total of about $19,000 a year in state taxes. This equates to over 25 percent in state taxes. Don’t forget, you still must pay your federal income tax, property tax and sales tax, which is now nearly 10 percent! You could easily pay 60 percent of your annual income in tax. I know what you are thinking — I would just move out of state. If you move out of state, the state would levy an excise tax of 35 percent on the value of the taxpayer’s vested pension benefits projected over the individual’s life expectancy. In the name of fairness, the taxpayer could pay the excise tax as a lump sum or over time!
The other proposal would allow all existing contractual state and local pension plans to be reopened and renegotiated.
Again you are thinking, that is just California craziness, but it demonstrates the extremes to which people are currently willing to go. Remember, if a precedent can be established, it opens the door to similar action everywhere.
Hopefully you have already educated your city administration and the public to the need for properly staffed apparatus and a sufficient number of stations. If you have found favor with your citizens, politicians will hesitate before they challenge you in fear of alienating the public.
If you are not political, you better get political. Campaigns today usually have pretty tight constraints on the amount of money individuals and organizations can donate but firefighters have something candidates want more than money: Time! — time to handout campaign literature, time to speak at gatherings, time to stuff envelopes and work the phones at campaign headquarters. Do not forget the power of endorsements from the most trusted occupation.
Today’s firefighters are far more skilled than when I entered the fire service some 40 years ago. Our academy was six weeks long. We were taught to raise ladders, pull hose and operate a pump. Our “medical module” was 3 days long! The firefighters of today are educated in high-angle rope rescue, surf rescue, swift water rescue, confined space, rescue systems, trench rescue, haz-mat, etc. and many are paramedics. Have you educated the public to all the skills you have? If you took the “Paramedic” sign off your rig and replaced it with "EMT," would anyone know the difference?
Please, if a spot fire breaks out in your district, extinguish it with your most effective extinguishing agent, knowledge. When someone writes a letter to the editor, respond to it with all the energy and enthusiasm you would to protect your citizens.
© Copyright Firenuggets.com 2009 • Click here for Terms and Conditions of Use
<•••SIGN OUT