2004 AGN JUN 01 Misc 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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41 COLTON FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION LOCAL 935 June 1, 2004 Daryl Parrish City Manager City of Colton 650 N. La Cadena Drive Colton, CA 92324 Dear Mr. Parrish, Every day of the year, every hour of the day, the Colton Fire Department staffs 4 fire stations with firefighters and paramedics to provide for the safety of the people who live and work in this community. Three paramedic fire engines, a paramedic squad, a ladder truck and a command vehicle represent the first out equipment staffed by Fire Department personnel. The minimum number of personnel required to accomplish this on a daily basis is 15, exactly the number of firefighters on duty every day in Colton. With 3 separate shifts to provide around the clock staffing, the City of Colton employs 45 shift firefighters. Each engine and truck crew consists of 3 members. A Fire Captain is responsible for the day-to-day actions of his crew and basic incident scene management. A Fire Engineer drives and operates the pumping apparatus and is responsible for apparatus maintenance. A Firefighter / Paramedic completes the crew and is responsible for the medical care of patients treated by the engine crew. All crewmembers are firefighters and, at least, certified Emergency Medical Technicians. The paramedic squad always consists of 2 Firefighter / Paramedics. Additionally, each of the 3 shifts has a Battalion Chief in command of all personnel on that shift as well as responsibility for various administrative duties. All are specifically trained, tested and certified for their respective ranks. Job descriptions of greater detail for all ranks are available from Human Resources or the Fire Department. Since the daily minimum staffing necessary to operate effectively, exactly matches the staffing on duty each day, when an employee is off, for any reason such as vacation, holiday or sick leave another employee of equal rank is called in to replace the off duty employee. This is "Constant Staffmg." Does this create overtime? Yes. However, overtime is generally less expensive than hiring extra personnel to cover these leaves, as will be demonstrated. This is especially true in these times of increasing medical and retirement rates.