Two plus two equals FORE
Apparently now just because you hold a title you are right. At least that is what some Council Members think. Council Member Gwen Mason says in an interview with WSLS says that Management assured her that the proposed cuts wouldn't change anything. This is hard to comprehend. The Fire Chief says one thing and 250+ Firefighters say that he is wrong. In a detailed 40+ page report the Firefighters lay out the significance of the proposed cuts and still no one listens. The Firefighters try every available outlet to discuss the issues in a very professional manner and yet their voices are unheard. The Fire Chief says that we can take away an Engine and nothing will change, yet he couldn't be more wrong. First and foremost, one thing that not too many have taken into account is that the Firefighters views of the Fire Chief has changed. What does this mean, well it means everything. Long ago, a product of no confidence in the leader led to mutiny. In current times, you may not see mutiny especially in a para-military Department such as ours. However, you will see even the bootlickers checking the taste in their mouth to see if they like it anymore. What will this produce? I am not exactly sure, but the things I am hearing might send a message.
Firefighters are not allowed to strike, even if we could we aren't the type of people who let our jobs not get done. If you were privy to the conversations I am, you would be surprised by what you hear. A Captain explained it best in the Council meeting when he said that Firefighters used to talk about how long they had been here and now they talk about how long they have to go. It is evident that we are only numbers. Not the City Council, not the City Manager, Not the Fire Chief, not the Deputy Fire Chiefs could care if we have a name with our faces. That could not be more evident with the way they have treated Mary Thompson. I will be happy to pull the first knife out of her back. 23 years of dedication to the Fire Department and she is told to pack her boxes. Only one person in Administration has been here longer and yet it means nothing. If that doesn't send a message to potential Firefighter candidates I don' t know what does.
I have tried my best to be honest about the job to potential candidates. I don't paint a rosy picture and usually I sell the job by talking about our greatest asset...our Firefighters. I will put you guys first and I think you know that. Of course, Roanoke City claims the same outlook, but we know that couldn't be further from the truth.
What is more is that not City Council, not the City Manager, not the Fire Chief actually knows what is going on. There is talks of the guys coming back from Clearbrook, over hiring, and still the budget cuts. Getting rid of one position in Administration only to turn around and hire two more. Who knows what is going on? All I know is our work load gets heavier and heavier.
Who really cares anymore? I will tell you who cares. We care. If we didn't care we wouldn't have fought for the positions. If we didn't believe in it we would have not bothered.
Apparently Jay Warren has the same thought process as our Fire Chief. He states that
For coverage on todays Council Meeting look here:
WSLS 10
WSET 13
Firefighters are not allowed to strike, even if we could we aren't the type of people who let our jobs not get done. If you were privy to the conversations I am, you would be surprised by what you hear. A Captain explained it best in the Council meeting when he said that Firefighters used to talk about how long they had been here and now they talk about how long they have to go. It is evident that we are only numbers. Not the City Council, not the City Manager, Not the Fire Chief, not the Deputy Fire Chiefs could care if we have a name with our faces. That could not be more evident with the way they have treated Mary Thompson. I will be happy to pull the first knife out of her back. 23 years of dedication to the Fire Department and she is told to pack her boxes. Only one person in Administration has been here longer and yet it means nothing. If that doesn't send a message to potential Firefighter candidates I don' t know what does.
I have tried my best to be honest about the job to potential candidates. I don't paint a rosy picture and usually I sell the job by talking about our greatest asset...our Firefighters. I will put you guys first and I think you know that. Of course, Roanoke City claims the same outlook, but we know that couldn't be further from the truth.
What is more is that not City Council, not the City Manager, not the Fire Chief actually knows what is going on. There is talks of the guys coming back from Clearbrook, over hiring, and still the budget cuts. Getting rid of one position in Administration only to turn around and hire two more. Who knows what is going on? All I know is our work load gets heavier and heavier.
Who really cares anymore? I will tell you who cares. We care. If we didn't care we wouldn't have fought for the positions. If we didn't believe in it we would have not bothered.
Apparently Jay Warren has the same thought process as our Fire Chief. He states that
Calling an ambulance went up as well, although your insurance should cover that increase.Yeah, so insurance just pays for this out of the kindness of their hearts right. WRONG. We pay for it. You and You and You and You. Insurance premiums will go up more and more and more and more. Nothing is free.
For coverage on todays Council Meeting look here:
WSLS 10
WSET 13
20 comments:
Do you suspect that Channel 10's slant on the issue is geared toward Tiffany. A former employee. I know when she was hired by ralph, Channel 10 was asked to do a little investigative reporting because more qualified people were interviewed and they immediatedly defended her.
no confidence has my vote. They screwed us AGAIN. Time to stand up men and women.
I think the vote of no confidence will divide the dept. into the firefighters vs. the backdoor medics(hoback friends) again.
I was hired on June 11, 1984 and was very proud to come to work here. I will reach my rule of 70 this July, but because I have spent my money on women & boose & continue to do so, & because I have a daughter going into the 9th grade next year and hopefully college after that, I am planning to stay on the job 10 years and 29 days more. Talk about counting them down. Here I am looking at 10 more years and counting down the days.
I have witnessed Sqaud 1 going to station 1 to become E-1, a Sqaud and 12 peeps gone, E-1 going to
14, another engine and 12 more peeps gone, E-12 taken out of service and 12 more peeps gone, another engine in E-7 taken out and now 6 more peeps amd yet again another engine. Soon another engine and 12 more peeps with the combining of 9-5. That will be 54 peeps GONE.
When will the citizens of this fair city stand up and say ENOUGH, we want good protection and not let admin and council dictate what goes on? Is this city a democracy or dictatorship????
I will continue to play the lottery and hope I hit big so I can leave before my 10years and
29days are up!!!!
God bless and be safe out there.
READING IS FUNDAMENTAL
AND REMEMBER TO WEAR YOUR AIR PACK
Baron Gibson
in the top 20 on the senoirity list
OLD SCHOOL AND OLD TIMER
The sad thing is station 2 is next! Wait till new station 3 is there, E2 will be gone. L2 will be run as QUINT too. With E3 sitting right up the street so no need for E2 to be there. I have never seen any fire department going backwards so fast.
I thought we were in a tight budget year.But we have $200.000 for the YMCA. $325.000 for enterprize zone,Millions for a new fire house and parking garages down town,WOW, The last time i checked that is public convince not public SAFETY items.All i ask Gwen Mason is this,you said you had to go on what chief Hoback said,But if he is WRONG,Will you hold him accountable???Time will tell.
Its a lost cause folks. We are in a losing battle yet do not face the realism that we will not win this battle. City council will do what they want and the Chief will bow down and agree with everything they say. We like to bitch and complain only when its too late.
To Mason, Trinkle, Harris, Fitzpatrick, Nash and others so unaware yet in a position of influence;
The chief is senior management by assignment. The chief is not a senior fire officer, not hoback, not grigsby. The chief is an appointed position. You do not have to come up thru the ranks. You need never ride or drive a fire truck; you are not required to have any fireground experience. They were not with us on the street with ice covering our turnout gear, hands and feet numb from the cold; they were not there when we crawled thru the basements or attics with zero visibility and intense heat. They did not pull their lungs out to get the hose to the seat of the fire. They have not gone home with aching body and burning eyes. They never stood in a situation so dangerous that the mind very quickly and quietly thought of family. They were not there to hear the gasps of tortured agony. They did not help dig the remains of a body from the rubble. They weren’t there to hear the cries of the family members at the loss of a loved one. They haven’t seen what I’ve seen nor done what I’ve done.
Yet they pretend to be one of us and speak for us.
They don’t know who I am or what I’m about; and the fact of the matter is, I really don’t care.
I don’t need or want them to know me. But then they risk my safety and the safety of the public.
A chief needs not have loyalty to the citizens or to the firefighters. You must only follow your instructions from downtown. The office serves at the pleasure of downtown. Do you really think he speaks for us? Are you that naive? Or are you are the same as he?
We didn’t come to council about our poor salaries, our ever decreasing benefits or the way we are mismanaged and mistreated. Our department is full of problems and the sad thing is that they come from the top down. Most of our people question why they stay here considering the way we are treated, even the young people. Look how many are leaving.
We came to you about SAFETY, and you could not see and were led. We will face even more cuts soon.
Where will you stand?
We write anonymously because of the retaliation, but if you squint your eyes in the twilight you will see me.
Blue ghost
The Cheif of any dept. should be a leader, he should be there for the men and women of his dept. he should try to pull his department together when times are bad. He should know what its like to be up all night from fighting fires, know the pain you feel when you find kids in a fire, that did not make it. He should be the one that informs his department of major changes such as now. But where has he been ??? To be a chief / leader you need people willing to follow you !! Roanoke Fire / EMS is not following you any more. And as far a Mr. Grigsby goes i will never refer to you as Chief, this is as much your fault as his, this was your plan from years ago, I guess you can retire and move out of the city now you have left your mark! The sad part about it all is, that as mad as i am when i get to work in the morning if the house down the street catches fire and people need us we will go in, do all that is humanly possible. with as few people as you cut us down too, even when it is probally to dangerous, if the CITIZENS need us, we will find a way to help them, with or without YOU !!!!!
When the quint concept was introduced by fire administration,one of our main concerns was that they would be used as a tool to reduce manpower. I believe that fire admin. assured council that was not the case. Today the Roanoke Times reported, Chief David Hoback defended the changes, saying they were part of the department's future plans. Seems as though the quints were used as a tool to reduce manpower. The fact is that E7 has been taken out of service and now there are plans for E13. In my opinion the quints were used as a manpower reduction tool. Maybe now city council will realize that we knew what we were talking about several years ago.
Maybe we should pull the tape of the council meeting..from oh about 10 years ago. When the Chief of our department( Now he is the Asst. City Manager & Chief) swore in front of council that the quints would never be used to cut manpower or be used for anything other than a ladder truck. How about shooting a hole in his credibility by showing council how he lied then and will continue to lie to push his agenda!!!!
Regardless of how it jeopardizes our safety or the safety of the citizens of Roanoke.
Maybe the Fire Dept. is not in the Future Plans for this City. Has the Fire service ever talked a fire out? Thats all this City wants, a talking head whos numbers are not adding up! J.O.
What I can’t understand, if we are in such a budget crunch that we are losing 6 personnel (and the number 6 is very questionable) why do we STILL have 6 personnel in the County’s Clearbrook Station. If we are looking at the numbers and questioning what is truly cost efficient I would think bringing the city personnel from the Clearbrook station back to the city (where they belong) would be the obvious decision. The number of calls they actual run in the city as city employees is minimal compared to what they run in the county. Cost vs. benefit, which is the better bang for the citizen’s buck, for city employees working in a county station running more county calls than city calls or Engine 13 remaining in service running more city calls than county calls (mutual aid). Pretty elementary you would think! Right? Ah…but you forget about the awards! Roanoke Fire-EMS and Roanoke County Fire & Rescue have won awards for this joint venture at the Clearbrook Station. I think it’s a pretty high price just to pat each other on the back. Is it truly worth it? I think not. Bring our personnel back. We need them now more than ever!
I also would like to mention the Roanoke Times editorial regarding the department needing to “give up” something. Maybe if the times would do more investigating reporting on the topic they might dig up the loss of Engine 12, Engine 7 and now Engine 13. That’s three engines companies (a total of 36 personnel) Not to mention we have basically lost a forth person from every engine and ladder company in the city to provide drivers for the medic units. I think we as a department have given enough! We as a department are hurting! Our call volume is NOT dropping, it is increasing every year. Rodney Jordan’s quote in your paper was correct, “you can’t take firefighters off the street, take an engine out of service, and say that everything’s still going to stay the same”. It will surely affect our services, if you don’t believe it; you are living in a dream world. Unfortunately for someone in Roanoke their time may be cut short because of this poor budget decision. It’s just a matter of time.
My hat is off to you guys that are gonna stay here until retirement. I got hired almost three years ago now, and I can guarantee that I won't be staying here for the duration. This place is a breeding ground for poor morale and it has been handed down from the top. Yes this is the best job in the world, but the worst employer in the world. I have never worked in a place that is so bad at looking out for its people. And you would think that with the danger that comes with the job that somebody would be on our side. Well guess what, nobody is! Not the council, the manager, or the chief. It hurts my head to think about how messed up this place is, and it's not gonna get better. Our salaries are pathetic, manpower is being cut back, and we're gettin' a 2% raise. WOW! Not to mention the EMT-I contracts that kill morale. Believe me, a lot of people are gonna be looking for jobs the next couple of years. See the city thinks no matter how bad they screw us, we'll stay here because we have the greatest job, but all that shit that I just wrote about is not enough to keep me here. Not to mention how young this dept. is. It's gonna take forever to get promoted because the list is bottlenecked at lieutenant. Which means I'm gonna be stuck on that damn medic unit forever. HAHA at least that's what they're hoping!
Im not sure what all the fuss is about? The man leading the fire department "The Chief" is looking out for what is best w/ his men. The Chief said everything would be fine, and we would not increase our response times. The Chief said that no one in the city would suffer from the budget cuts so why dont you people just let it go, and buy in to what the THE CHIEF is saying.. If someone dies from these cuts it want be on his conscious because he did everything he could to prevent these cuts, and he would only allow the ones that went through if their were no safety issues at hand.
you are odviously [spelling] suffering from methane exposure for someone to say that has there head so far up the chiefs ass you can not thing straight. only a Company man/woman would say that.I have been here a few years and have gone through several changes, but what has been happening over the past few years is something out of a Wes Craven movie,mixed with a Laurel an Hardy flic. The blindness of the governing body is unbelievable . The only person you can rely on is yourself and your company. I guess big jim has us where he wants us? Or does he? I can only speak for myself but now I'm pissed,and I will not let them get me down and nether should we. Just like fighting that bastard of a fire I'm not quitting till its out. I'm not going to show my hand but fellows theres more than one way to skin a rat and we have a nest of them.
I too have NO CONFIDENCE in our Chiefs. Lies on top of lies are and have been told. Lies that are gambling with our and the public's safety. Take the new Engine #13 for example. Just last year our Chief went to council asking for the money to buy an "out of the normal" truck. He told of how they needed the extra water etc in that area so a truck with a larger tank had to be purchased. Now, less than one year later, he is going to take that truck out of service and replace it with one that carries only 300 gallons of water?? Not even the 500 our standard engines carry! Was he lying to council back then or now?? Do we not need the extra water out there now? Has something changed? Maybe the hydrant fairy will show up and give us the new hydrants we need in North West. Better yet, maybe a Chief fairy will come and give us a new chief who knows and understands Firefighter issues or at least one who will listen to our concerns and buy in to our mission, vision and values for the City we are sworn to protect!
I have the solution to all of our budget issues. It is so easy that it was right in front of us the entire time. All we have to do is drain our water in our trucks down to a quarter tank so we want use so much fuel driving around. Since once we get to the fire all we are going to be doing is protecting exposures and we will have to bring our own water in anyway since the second in engine is so far out now.
This should plenty of water since I saw on the news an officer trying to put a fully involved car fire out with a water can.
This was a great decision by this officer to save the wear and tear of his pump and truck by thinking ahead and using the water can, not to mention all the fuel he saved.
This leads me to my next budget proposal that would rather work well in the city that would please the EMS chief. We remove all engines and replace them with medic trucks with two 5 gallon water cans. We also need shovels on the medic trucks to bury smoldering debris, but please make sure it is a second hand shovel, one from Big Lots will do.
Perhaps we should invest in swift water and HTR equipment since we use it so often.
PS stay in school, dont do drugs
The person who said no one is on our side is right. Not the chief, manager, city council, and definitely not OUR UNION. Our union dues got twords a dump of a building on Patterson Avenue??
The Union has no voice at all. Pretty pathetic that we pay each and every month for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
If you don't like the way the union works get involved or get out. For a union to work people have to support each other. We have not been doing anything as a group until now, rodney and rex can not do it all. Pull for Ted Kennedy and call your congress man about collective barg.
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