Calif. fire department to boost ranks, reopen station

By Jessica A. York
The Vallejo Times Herald

VALLEJO, Calif. — Traveling along Mini Drive, passers-by are as likely as not to see a sign reading "Closed, Call 9-1-1" often obscured by orange plastic outside the mostly idle fire station.

The modified sign and an occasional fire engine peeking out from garage doors are among the first visible public indications that the station — closed under the weight of budget cuts — may reopen by summer.

Meanwhile, fire administrators are running background checks on 10 potential new hires, and could begin recruits' 12-week training regimen as early as mid-February.

That would mean the eventual full-time reopening of Station 25 on Mini Drive without an offsetting closure — a first in more than three and a half years. For now, the station is staffed intermittently, when conditions and staffing allow, without incurring overtime.

"When this station is open, it's palpable — the appreciation that firefighters have ...," newly minted Vallejo Fire Chief Paige Meyer said recently. "It takes a tremendous workload off other stations and it allows us the ability to respond to a two-alarm fire ourselves. It makes you feel like you're self-sufficient to a certain extent."

Station 25's restoration to full-time status will cap a five-year department struggle. Over that period it has gone from being one of the area's best equipped and best staffed to one in which there have been four leadership changes, staffing has shrunk by the dozens and the volume of medical and fire calls has risen inexorably.

If you ask Meyer or some of his people, though, Vallejo's firefighters are emerging from the other side of the department's fiscal and staffing ordeal stronger, more efficient and ready to tackle just about anything. In fact, Meyer sees the station's reopening as mirroring his ideas for a department rebirth.

Meyer's vision

That rebirth began taking shape last August, when the City Council OK'd a two-year grant to fund the salaries and benefits of nine new firefighters. That's enough to continuously staff one station and it comes a little more than a year after the fourth of nine fire companies was shuttered.

Though the new-hires' appointment is, by design, temporary, Meyer said he believes the department's upcoming retirements — nine firefighters are or will be eligible in the coming months — will open up some permanent slots.

"I think one of the most important things that I will do is hiring folks," Meyer said recently, riding the crest of a budding caffeine high at a local coffee shop. "And hiring the right people that are the right fit for the organization, with the right mentality is really what's going to help our department continue to flourish and be able to do amazing things with limited resources."

The $3.6 million SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response), the second — and much larger — such grant Vallejo received recently, will mean 18 firefighters will be working at any given time of day.

Improvising

Currently, there are only 15. A 2010 bankruptcy-forced new employee contract included a recommendation to maintain minimum staffing levels at or above 18, down from the 28 mandated until just before the city's May 2008 Chapter 9 filing.

These reduced staffing levels have forced Meyer to improvise and reach out for advice from several sources in order to plug service-related holes.

For example, Meyer, 41, recalled that last May, when he became interim chief, he learned that the department was not responding as quickly to medical calls as required by a county medic service revenue-sharing agreement. It turned out that the problem was easier to fix than it initially appeared — with the help of Meyer's whole department.

"What I did was I brought labor and management together, posed the issue, showed them the problem, and had a two-hour meeting and discussion on how we think we could fix the problem," Meyer recalled. "Together, as the fire department, we rose to the challenge, came up with a specific plan to attack the problem, and we attacked it and we conquered it."

Meyer said issues such as the medical call problem are best solved by collaboration. As he sees it, paramilitary organizations like the fire service don't always have to be, "Do it because I told you to."

"That doesn't work as effectively — it works — but if you want to be a healthy organization that appreciates each others' efforts, I believe that empowering, being transparent, educating our department on the 'whys' and the 'how comes' and the 'what's at stake,' suddenly more new ideas are coming out than I could have come up with," he said.

Moving from the front lines to top management in a year, Meyer said the difficult work his department undertakes each day remains fresh in his mind.

"From 2005 to 2010, and it's actually a little bit low statistically speaking, we doubled our (work) volume per firefighter," Meyer said. "And obviously, that's where Vallejo Fire Department found out what type of department we are and what type of people we have — and they're exceptional.

"We know that (if) you compare our call volume, and I'm putting studies together, I believe that some of our engine companies will be, maybe, top 10 in the state as far as being busy," Meyer added. "That's not healthy. We know that that is not a healthy place to be. But that's why the culture and the efforts of our people need to be so appreciated."

A fiery past

Vallejo firefighters say appreciation levels have been lacking in recent years. Contention between fire union and city leaders particularly boiled over in the months leading up to Vallejo's bankruptcy filing.

Jon Riley, a former International Association of Fire Fighters 1186 vice president said he believes department morale reached one of its lowest points by his departure. Since he left, another fire house closed and staffing was reduced to 68, from a high of 120 in 2003.

"I couldn't imagine working under (current) conditions, quite frankly," said Riley, part-time executive director of the Napa-Solano Central Labor Council, in a recent interview.

Riley predicted that Vallejo firefighters, however, would continue being "the best firefighters around."

"The motto of the fire service is to identify, adapt and overcome," Riley said. "You do that on a daily basis when you roll up to any particular call. So, certainly, they're going to have to — and have, I'm sure — found ways to do more with less."

Honed in flames

By summer, the department is expecting a change of direction, with the North Vallejo fire station's reopening after the next training academy graduation.

The reopening will mean that firefighters can respond to a two-alarm structure blaze and still have engines available for medical emergencies — without automatically calling on Vallejo's neighboring cities for assistance.

Fire Captain Erick Diaz, whose station has been shouldering more calls from part of Station 25's coverage area, said increased staffing likely also will mean fewer on-the-job injuries.

"Putting out the fire takes about two to five minutes. The hour after is overhaul," Diaz said. "That's where people get hurt, because you're fatigued and you're not really paying attention to things you're doing. We have to release crews early to staff the city, leaving one crew to do the job of three or four crews."

Learning to do more with fewer resources has turned the department into a smarter and more humble agency, Meyer said.

Not only has Vallejo had to learn to work more closely with other fire districts — and not just neighboring towns — but also how to analyze how to respond to fire or medical calls more efficiently.

"We've been challenged to re-evaluate how we do everything," Meyer said. "And when we've re-evaluated how we do that process, we've actually made some tremendous strides in a variety of areas."

Closer analysis

Meyer explained how his personnel are "looking at things in a scientific way," and finding ways to have injured firefighters work in other areas of the understaffed department. Unlike those who can "throw money at problems," Meyer said, seeing Vallejo's underdog status and financial difficulties as obstacles to be met head-on.

Fire Battalion Chief Pat Dunn said that not only does Vallejo look to other fire departments for manpower backup, but for creative ways to deal with problems as well. Sometimes, Vallejo is the one offering tips in return, Dunn added.

"I think we've modified our operations to where we're working with the hand that's dealt us," Dunn said. "So, is it acceptable? It's acceptable where we're at, operationally, with what we can do right now. Is it acceptable on the national level, at the norm level? No. But we'll make do with what we get, and ... it just got better."

Moving forward

As the fire department looks to its future with Meyer and his administrative staff at the helm, a new fiscal year's budget and another round of contract negotiations are on the near horizon.

It was only four years ago that Meyer, a 13-year Vallejo fire veteran, was part of a team representing his union, the International Association of Fire Fighters 1186, at the contract negotiation table.

By the end of June, both the fire and police union contracts will have expired.

Meyer's outlook for the future is staunch.

"I may be naïve, but I'm not stupid," Meyer said. "I know there will be challenges. But I think this organization, from a cultural standpoint, from a morale standpoint, we get it done. .. We'll do the best that we can, and I think we're well on our way, and I'm proud of folks."

Copyright 2012 The Times-Herald
All Rights Reserved