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Welcome to the IAFF Frontline News Brief, distributed twice a month to IAFF affiliate leaders and IAFF members. We encourage you to forward this news to your members and others in the fire service.

The Frontline News Brief is delivered directly by email and is also published on the IAFF web site. You can view past issues at http://daily.iaff.org/frontline/morenews.html.

Your feedback is also welcome - email pr@iaff.org with questions and comments.

"IAFF Remembers Michael D. McNeill" (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"Message to Congress: AMT Should Not Tax Fire Fighters" (International Association of Fire Fighters )
"Act 47 doesn't assure city's financial health, report says" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
"IAFF Responds to Harvard Heart Attack Risk Study" (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"Report urges change in St. Paul Fire Department" (Associated Press)
"City error fuels firefighter furor" (The Boston Globe)
"B.C. Politicians Want More Female Firefighters" (CTV News)
"Questions Over Federal Money Given to Orlando Fire Department" (Fox 35 )
"IAFF Burn Foundation Awards $150,000 in Research Grants" (International Association of Fire Fighters)
"Firefighter's Widow Waiting For Federal Benefits" (10TV)
"Firefighter recruits to FDNY: Exam's testing our patience" (Metro New York)
"Council OKs plan to prepay retirement costs" (Montgomery County Gazette)
"City Seeks Federal Funding for Emergency Vehicle Pre-Emption Equipment for Rt. 229" (Bristol Press (CT))
"Mold found in fire station" (13abc)
"New York's bravest take fight to Giuliani" (The Australian)
"Group Aims to Dispel Hybrid Myths Among First Responders" (Firehouse.com)


 

"Frontline News Brief" is Sponsored By:

IAFF Remembers Michael D. McNeill
International Association of Fire Fighters (03/27/07)

Family, friends and fire fighters filled the Christ the King Roman Catholic Church in Denver, Colorado, March 27 to remember the life of Michael D. McNeill, IAFF 9th District Vice President who dedicated 40 years of his life to the fire service and to the IAFF before losing his courageous battle with cancer March 21.
(Web Link)
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Message to Congress: AMT Should Not Tax Fire Fighters
International Association of Fire Fighters (03/23/07)

Michael Day, president of Baltimore County, MD Local 1311, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee March 22 that the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) could hit fire fighters hard with a tax increase next year if Congress fails to protect them from it. The AMT was created in the 1960s to prohibit wealthy taxpayers from avoiding federal taxes by using tax shelters and excessive deductions. Since then, however, "the AMT has unintentionally evolved from a tax on the wealthiest few to invade middle-class households living paycheck to paycheck, making checkbooks all across this country that much harder to balance every month," Day told the tax-writing committee. "The AMT has transformed into a tax on the very people it sought to protect."
(Web Link)
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Act 47 doesn't assure city's financial health, report says
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (03/17/07); Toland, Bill

A trio of reports assessing Act 47, Pennsylvania's Municipalities Financial Recovery Act for financially distressed cities, concludes that Act 47 is nothing more than "triage" for the city of Pittsburgh.  The Brookings Institution, the Pennsylvania Economy League and Penn State University collectively issued the reports. The state government, the studies say, "bears the responsibility to create structures that allow municipalities to become and remain strong, vibrant entities." The economy league, research arm of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, specifically noted that "Act 47 [is] not effective. State and local taxes are expended with limited real, long-term hope for success ... tools for fiscal recovery [are] promptly taken away when a municipality exits Act 47." Of the 22 cities and communities that have entered Act 47 "distressed status," only five have exited, and none of those is in particularly good shape.
(Web Link)
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IAFF Responds to Harvard Heart Attack Risk Study
International Association of Fire Fighters (03/21/07)

The IAFF has issued a statement in response to new research on heart attacks among fire fighters that appeared in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. General President Harold Schaitberger says, "The study, by Harvard University's medical researchers, quantifying the risk of heart attacks among fire fighters underscores the need for comprehensive wellness and fitness programs to be instituted in fire departments across the continent."

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Report urges change in St. Paul Fire Department
Associated Press (03/22/07)

An audit of the St. Paul, Minnesota Fire Department recommends closing three fire stations and reorganizing other firehouses in an effort to resolve the adversarial relationship between management and fire fighters. Mayor Chris Coleman has ordered immediate changes following the report, stating it is up to everyone in the department to set aside disputes and focus on change. He  also said, "It is the responsibility of the chief to set the tone and direction of the department." The audit was released two weeks after St. Paul Local 21 voted 366-6 for "no confidence" in Fire Chief Doug Holton's leadership. The 326-page audit, done by the consulting firm TriData Corp. over a five-month period, said the organizational state of the fire department is "in a state of internal crisis. The problems have not yet affected delivery of service to the public but could easily do so if not addressed."
(Web Link)
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City error fuels firefighter furor
The Boston Globe (03/15/07); Paige, Connie

The bitter dispute over sick leave between City Hall and Newton, MA Local 863 fire fighters has escalated following a mayoral news conference in which a union supporter drowned out Mayor  David B. Cohen as he maintained that fire fighter absenteeism has been higher than that of other municipal employees -- even after admitting that statistics released last fall erroneously showed an absentee rate double what it actually was. Sick leave has been the sticking point in contract negotiations that have dragged on more than three years. Fran Capello, president of Local 863, puts the average absenteeism for fire fighters at 6.2 percent. Cohen, who admitted that his figure of 14 percent was wrong, still insists the absenteeism rate is about 6.7 percent -- higher than that of other city employees. Capello says Mayor Cohen should treat s ick-leave abuse on an individual basis.
 
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B.C. Politicians Want More Female Firefighters
CTV News (03/16/07)

The Richmond, British Columbia, city council has endorsed the city's fire rescue department's proposal to implement an "assisted hiring practice" intended to diversify the department. If the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal approves the plan, the new recruitment method will start in the spring by awarding training-school scholarships to visible minorities and women. Richmond's ethnic diversity -- the city is split evenly between men and women, and 60 percent of inhabitants are visible minorities -- is not reflected by the force's makeup; among 206 Vancouver area fire fighters, only 10 are visible minorities and only two are female. For those concerned about the force's 2005 sexual harassment charges, city spokesman Ted Townsend asserts that those allegations led to "massive" departmental changes. Townsend also explains that not all vacancies will be filled by minorities and women, and maintains that all fire fighters will have to meet "rigorous standards" to ensure that performance is not compromised.

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Questions Over Federal Money Given to Orlando Fire Department
Fox 35 (03/13/07)

Orlando fire fighters say they never got federal money they earned for extra homeland security training. So where's the money?

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IAFF Burn Foundation Awards $150,000 in Research Grants
International Association of Fire Fighters (03/28/07)

The IAFF Burn Foundation awarded burn research grants totaling nearly $150,000 during the 39th Annual American Burn Association Meeting in San Diego, California, March 19-23, 2007. Fire fighters from IAFF local affiliates throughout North America, along with approximately 1,200 burn care professionals, attended the week-long conference designed to educate burn care nurses, physicians, therapists and fire fighters on advances in burn treatment. Representing more than 280,000 professional fire fighters and fire fighter burn foundations throughout North America, the IAFF Burn Foundation played a significant part in the conference.
(Web Link)
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Firefighter's Widow Waiting For Federal Benefits
10TV (03/26/07)

The wife of a central Ohio fire fighter who died of a heart attack continues to wait for the federal dollars the president promised. In 2003, President Bush signed the Hometown Hero's Act, qualifying fire fighters and police officers for federal benefits if they died of a heart attack while on the job. To date, 240 families have applied for benefits through the Hometown Heroes Act, but none have been distributed. Forty families have been denied, and another 200 are still waiting to hear. Jack Reall, president of Columbus, OH Local 67, said the problem rests with the Department of Justice. "They didn't want it," Reall said. "They don't agree with it. I think that's why we're having so many problems."

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Firefighter recruits to FDNY: Exam's testing our patience
Metro New York (03/26/07); Miller, Joshua Rhett

Fire Department of New York recruit candidates are upset with an exam they claim has nothing to do with becoming a fire fighter, and are calling for a new test. Dominick DeRubbio, 21, was among more than 20,000 people who took the exam which included more than 100 "subjective" questions -- including multiple choice queries about how they would clean the firehouse's kitchen if fire fighters from the previous shift left it messy.  DeRubbio -- an organizer for Fighting 6019, a group of probie candidates who held a rally in Union Square  March 25 protesting against the exam numbered 6019 -- said he spent weeks studying for the exam and attending prep courses. None of the questions in those courses, however, made it into the final test.     
(Web Link)
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Council OKs plan to prepay retirement costs
Montgomery County Gazette (03/28/07); Davis, Janel

The Montgomery County, Maryland County Council has introduced a five-year plan to phase in a $240 million annual payment for retiree benefits for county employees. The money is needed to satisfy a new Governmental Accounting Standards Board rule for pre-paying employee retirement benefits, specifically health care.  GASB 45 requires governments to detail how much money will be necessary to pay for retirement benefits if they are pre-funded while future retirees are still employed. Many governments, including the state of Maryland and Montgomery County , pay benefits out of each year's budget for already retired workers. The accounting board says the pay-as-you-go format distorts actual financial outlooks because future obligations do not show up on financial statements. For localities not used to squirreling away retiree benefit funds, satisfying GASB requires measures such as budget cuts and postponing projects to funnel money into pre-funding accounts.  Unions are very concerned about this because they see it as leading to benefit cuts, which is true in some places. John Sparks, president Montgomery County, MD Local 1664, does not foresee a benefits cut. " I think there is a lot of overreaction to [GASB 45]," Sparks said. "I think everyone will understand it better a year from now. We'll get through it."  
(Web Link)
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City Seeks Federal Funding for Emergency Vehicle Pre-Emption Equipment for Rt. 229
Bristol Press (CT) (03/19/07); Collins, Steve

Bristol, Connecticut, is attempting to procure a FIRE Act grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to enable the city to purchase traffic-light technology that lets fire trucks and other emergency vehicles pass through traffic signal intersections on local roads and highways quickly and safely. Currently, fire trucks have "an awful time" navigating the congestion on local roads. If awarded, the grant would pay 80 percent of the costs of implementing the vehicle pre-emption equipment on a dozen local traffic lights. The technology allows the fire department to override normal traffic signal operations so that emergency vehicles can get through.

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Mold found in fire station
13abc (03/22/07)

Sylvania Township, OH Local 2243 fire fighters are sleeping in a trailer because, after three years of working, eating and sleeping in Fire Station 2, fire fighters have uncovered mold. "I had more sinus problems and health issues and didn't really put two and two together, until I started hearing more and more complaints from different guys," says fire fighter Robin Zaletta. The township is looking at a potentially costly cleanup, one coming on the heels of cuts to the fire department.

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New York's bravest take fight to Giuliani
The Australian (03/19/07); Baxter, Sarah

FDNY battalion chief Jim Riches brought up his son to be one of New York's bravest, like him. The young Jim followed his father into the New York Fire Department, and died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. What followed turned his heartbroken father into a relentless opponent of Rudy Giuliani, then mayor of New York. Riches has vowed to torpedo Giuliani's prospects of winning the White House by attacking his greatest source of strength, his reputation as a hero that day. "We're going to follow him around the country," said Riches, 55. "We want all of America to know he is not the man he says he is."
(Web Link)
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Group Aims to Dispel Hybrid Myths Among First Responders
Firehouse.com (03/20/07); Erdley, Debra

West Virginia University's National Alternative Fuels Consortium experts have launched a pilot training program that provides a demonstration of hybrid vehicle emergency methods. Scott Martin, the program's instructor, hopes the training initiative will take off throughout the nation. He adds that his group wants to clear up myths regarding hybrids and enable emergency responders to employ measures to deal with the handful of potential hazards that exist. Martin stresses that to date, nobody has been hurt by a hybrid high-voltage system, although he concedes that hybrid systems can give off a charge of as many as 650 volts. "There is the electrical shock hazard that is potentially there until you isolate the services disconnect," Martin says. "Then nothing is in the cables that runs throughout the vehicles." The program shows where electrical system disconnect switches are situated and how to cripple an exposed hybrid battery with a combination of water and boric acid. In addition, it offers a booklet that includes safety information from every hybrid maker.

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