Firefighters Say New Policy Endangers Lives

The safety of Long Beach firefighters and civilians has been put in jeopardy, so said several members of the Long Beach Fire Department at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

The LBFD firefighters challenged City Manager Charles Theofan on a new policy he instituted, having taken effect on Sept. 1, which they argued cuts necessary staff.

A 2005 minimum staffing agreement with the city that required at least five paid firefighters assigned to every tour expired on Aug. 31. LBFD firefighters contend that, according to a collective bargaining agreement that expired on July 31, four firefighters and one lieutenant was considered minimum manning for each emergency call. Under Theofan's new policy, if a firefighter takes a sick day, he doesn't need to be replaced, and three firefighters and one lieutenant are considered sufficient for each tour.

Bill Piazza, president International Association of Firefighters Local 287, characterized the policy change as a safety issue that could endanger professional and volunteer firefighters and citizens during emergency calls.

"The volunteers cannot guarantee a minimal level of personnel to respond during the first few minutes of an emergency," Piazza said. "... We urge you to reevaluate your decision."

The LBFD has 27 paid firefighters and touts itself as among the busiest on Long Island, responding to some 4,700 emergency calls yearly, the great majority of them EMT-type cases. Garden City is the only other department in Nassau County with paid staff.

Theofan — who appointed himself fire commissioner earlier this year — said that minimal manning was separate from the collective bargaining agreement, and was an experiment that "has not work." He said that there were no problems with safety before minimal manning went into effect, and that it is unaffordable.

"If everyone cooperates, there will be minimal manning, but there will be minimal manning not at the cost of taxpayers with overtime, but through cooperation within the fire department," he said.

The city manager accused some firefighters of gaming the system, saying that the day after a firefighter called in sick, another would do the same, each in order to have another firefighter replace them to collect overtime pay.

Some asked Theofan to bring forth evidence of these practices. "There was clearly a pattern and it was clearly excessive," he said.

Others questioned that if Theofan knew such scheming was going on years ago, why he didn't stop it sooner.

Council member John McLaughlin proposed trying to retain minimum manning while minimizing its cost.

The City and the LBFD union agreed to meet on Monday, Sept. 13, when Corporation Counsel Corey Klein is available, in order to devise a new minimum staffing agreement.  

UPDATE Sept. 18, 2010

LBFD-City Negotiations on Minimal Manning Continue

The City of Long Beach and International Association of Firefighters Local 287, the union representing the Long Beach Fire Department, met to negotiate a new minimal staffing agreement on Monday, Sept. 13. A second meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 22, according to City Manager Charles Theofan.

"One of the fundamental principles of collective bargaining is that neither side is supposed to divulge what transpires in negotiation," Theofan wrote to Patch in an email on Monday. "So all I can say is that we met, I would say there was some progress, and we will meet again next Wednesday."

The LBFD and city agreed to met after the Sept. 7 City Council meeting, when several firefighters and their supporters questioned and challenged Theofan about his decision to enact a new policy on minimal manning that took effect Sept. 1