City Lays off 36 Fire Fighters

According to News10 the City of Stockton has laid off 36 firefighters, trying to close the budget deficit. The City and Union negotiated Thursday night, but was unsuccessful in reaching an agreement, according to News10, they became deadlocked. However, seven firefighters decided to retire early, others were willing to take demotions, instead of laying off the fire fighters. Apparently this was not enough, so the City proceeded to give notice to the fire fighters who were being laid off.



Trucks will no longer have 5-0 staffing, and will only be staffed by four personnel; The lay offs will reduce staffing of all engine companies from five to four and drops staffing on trucks from three to two; 19 fewer firefighters will be on duty. (News10, 2011)

The quote does not make sense, I believe what is meant is that on all truck companies staffing will be reduced from 5, to 4 personnel, and possibly drops staffing on engine companies from 4 to 3. I am not for certain, I will do more checking on this. Additionally Engine Company 1, will be closed, and the City will have 12 stations, instead of 13. Company 1 is located at 1818 Fresno Drive, and staffed 1 Engine company, and Dispatch 1.

Some First Due in areas of Company 1 were all calls on HWY 4, the industrial sections on Fresno heading towards Navy Drive, such as Hormel Foods, Zacky Farms, also Boggs Tract, and the Port of Stockton.

Engine 5 located at 3499 Manthey Road, Engine 2 located at  110 West Sonora Street, Engine 3 located at 1116 East First Street, will most likely be the three Engine companies that take over parts of Engine 1's district.

Click on Map to be taken to See Engine 1 Area-Stations in position to Cover

A total of 48 personnel were cut, seven opted for retirement, some took demotions in the department, and this left 36 fire fighter position's left to be laid off. According to News10, the City and Fire Unions are still negotiating; Also News10 stated that the staffing level is the lowest it has been since the fifties.


Measure H, gave the City Manager and or City Council the right to change staffing or make cuts to staffing in the fire department. Before Measure H, the Fire Department made all the staffing decisions, and it had exclusivity, and could not be forced by City Hall or the City Manager to reduce staffing.


It would seem that the three fire stations that are in position to cover closed Company 1 district, are Companies 5,2, & 3. Company 2 handling  everything North of Charter, all the way to the Port; Company 3 handling calls on HWY 4, and some of the industrial area's right off of Charter/Residential both North of or South of Charter; and Company 5 handling all the residential area South of Charter, through Con Way, all the way to Van Buskirk Park on Eighth Street.

Video is (C)2011 by News10

Some potential high impact area's where Engine 1 Closure will cause delay will be responses on HWY 4, and the unprotected area, which Stockton Fire Responds to all MVA, or vehicles in the water. The responses times will be much longer. Any part of Charter way past I-5, East of, will have a much higher response time, and these times will be greatly impacted if any of the three engines are already assigned to calls, or for example if their is a structure fire, that utilizes all three companies, 2,3 & 5. The next possible due in engine would be Company 9,  or Company 12, then Company 6. This posting is my opinnion, and I have based my potential theories on Station locations, Geographic areas, and response times.

This is not an official posting nor are any opinions contained herein shared with the City of Stockton, or Stockton Fire Department.

Source
News10, Initials. (Producer). (2011). City of stockton lays off 36 firefighters. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.news10.net/news/article/144012/2/City-of-Stockton-lays-off-36-firefighters

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