03-18-09, Bruce Philpott Responds to Fire Chief Hinz’s “Philpott not the candidate for safety”

Like former Fire Chief Hinz, I have made a career as a public safety professional and I would never place the public or safety personnel in jeopardy to merely balance a city budget. I would, however, set cost-effective and prudent staffing levels to cut waste and overtime in any city run department, especially during these harsh economic times.

Mr. Hinz served this community well during his career, but he has confused some of his purported facts. He claims that Glendale’s Class I standing would be lost if the staffing plan of three firefighters was adopted. The fact is there are Class I fire departments in Los Angeles County that staff routinely with three, the model that I have advanced in collaboration with several California fire chiefs. They determined this is a safe method to help restore solvency in a city that has spent $300,000,000 more than its revenues since 2002 (See CAFR Statistical Report, 2008, page 129). There are all volunteer fire departments that have the same Class I rating as Glendale. I don’t believe that Glendale’s Class rating would be “imperiled” as Mr. Hinz claims, if our engine companies were staffed with three rather than four, or if a reserve staffed the fourth position.

Chief Hinz might recall the paper published by the Los Angeles Area Fire Chiefs (1997) that said with respect to overtime, firefighters “earn disproportionately large incomes, and become financially addicted”. The LA Chiefs offered staffing partially with reserves as a way to control overtime and the problem has gotten much worse since then. One has to wonder why the Glendale Police Department saves millions of dollars each year by filling vacant shift positions with reserves while the fire department has no comparable program. If implemented, it could save $8,000,000 a year.

Hinz states that staffing with three on engine companies “ultimately could imperil the public and endanger our firefighters”. I wonder if the residents of the unincorporated areas of La Crescenta and the city of La Canada feel “imperiled” because their fire engines are staffed with three?

To further support his four-person staffing model, Hinz claims that the State Office of Emergency Services (OES) requires a minimum of four firefighters on engine companies when responding to mutual aid. OES Chief of Fire and Rescue, Kim Zagaris, told me that fire agencies have the option of sending three or four person engine companies on mutual aid responses to major brush fires. It’s a moot issue anyway because the city maintains its normal staffing levels when mutual aid is enacted. Off-duty firefighters are called in and take reserve engines or staff the vacant positions if some of the on-duty personnel are deployed.

Hinz says that I am “running a false campaign” because I have abandoned my fire staffing issue. If that were the only issue facing Glendale, I would not have run for this office. The primary reason I am running for city council is the fact the city is spending roughly $40,000,000 more each year than it can afford. The fire staffing model I presented would save about $8 million per year, or 20% of the total cost reductions that are needed to restore a truly balanced budget. My campaign is about the larger issue of a pattern of reckless spending beyond our means.

Glendale has a fine fire department, and Mr. Hinz knows I have neither said nor written otherwise. While I may question policy, I do not question the professionalism and commitment of our firefighters. He knows better than to say that people who have a heart attack may somehow not be around to write about it if I am elected. This type of fear mongering is nothing new. It’s just that it usually comes from the voice of the union that often times sends emotionally charged messages such as, “If you don’t elect our endorsed candidates, there will be burning babies in the streets”.

Bruce Philpott