Cal Fire overtime used for ‘incidents,’ staffing shortages
The Auburn-based Cal Fire Unit that covers Nevada, Yuba and Placer counties spent $550,290 in overtime for fiscal year 2007-2008. Cal Fire Chief Brad Harris said $356,990 of that overtime went for what termed as “incidents,” mostly forest fires that could be anywhere in the state, he said. Harris heads the Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit on Lincoln Way in Auburn. His department was hit with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent furlough orders, which leaves the Cal Fire office closed on the first and third Fridays of the month. As a result, the business side of the Cal Fire office here will be closed two days a month, but firefighters will remain on duty. In the fiscal year 2007-2008, three battalion chiefs and seven captains earned $193,300 in overtime to mostly maintain staffing at the command center. Capt. Analee Burlew was the top overtime earner at the command center, making $35,706. Battalion Chief Doug Rinella of Truckee-North Tahoe topped all local overtime earners with $43,015. In 27 years of experience with Cal Fire, Rinella said this is the most overtime he has ever accrued. He attributed it to being held on duty, as other firefighters in his unit were sent elsewhere to fight fires. “Our entire department was held on duty at our normal work stations and as new assignments became available they would send you to another fire,” Rinella said. “A lot of guys were gone on fires for 32 days in Northern California and I was held on duty in Truckee for local emergencies. Essentially, the whole department was put on duty for a month from June 20 to July 19.” The rest of Cal Fire’s overtime, $193,300, mostly went to staff the emergency command center in Grass Valley that takes 911 calls for all of Placer, Yuba, and Nevada counties. The center requires a minimum staff of four full-time employees and must be staffed 24 hours, seven days a week. It dispatches for fires, medical aid and anything that the fire department handles, Harris said. Besides Cal Fire, the center has responsibility for 26 other agencies. “The command center is a critical fill for us,” Harris said. At one point Cal Fire was short three fire captains. The command center must be staffed by at least one captain and currently the budget allows for a center staff of four, Harris said. Capt. Wendye Stuller of the Loma Rica Fire Station volunteered to help staff the command center when it was shorthanded and earned $24,216 in overtime in 2007-2008, second behind Burlew with $35,706. It’s usually a 72-hour shift at the command center, but Stuller ended up working longer due to illnesses and staff shortages. “I opted to a 96- or 120-hour shift to help them out at the command center,” Stuller said. “The job I am doing is necessary. They have no one else to turn to. My family suffers when I have to work these long shifts. It’s a hugely stressful position. If anyone gets sick, it’s a 12-hour shift.” When it comes to dollars spent, Stuller considers Cal Fire to be a frugal spender of taxpayer money. “As a taxpayer myself, Cal Fire is really a good bang for your buck,” Stuller said. “We change our own light bulbs here. We can’t afford to abuse the use of money.” Stuller has 29 years of experience with Cal Fire and worked her way up from firefighter, to engineer and then captain. Last summer, she was sent to Mendocino County to help put out raging forest fires that resulted from numerous lightening strikes. “I spent 40 days and nights on a fire engine, fighting six different fires,” Stuller said. The Journal’s Bruce Warren can be reached at brucew@goldcountrymedia.com, or comment online at Auburnjournal.com.
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I don't think anyone has a problem with the overtime the fire fighters made. The last couple of years have been really bad fire seasons.
Loomis, I don't know why anyone would have a problem with the overtime of any of our police, sheriff, or firefighters. Fires and crime have been on going. I think the Journal is getting desperate to sell papers.
Realist: During times of increased fire danger, fire personnel is more taxed than police--there really isn't a "crime season" where an overwhelming amount of crime occurs in this area that requires an inordinate number of police on duty.
Realist, I must agree with steely. I didn't agree with the unbelievable overtime that some Deputies in Placer County made last year.
How can you have an opinion when you don't know why the overtime was used? Without that piece of information any conclusion on the appropriateness is conjecture. Maybe it was for the investigation of a homicide or a child molest. Maybe it was so that a minimum number of deputies were on the street answering citizens' calls for service. Maybe it was to assist the fire department with evacuations during fire calls this summer. Maybe it was so that a minimum level of staffing was insured at the jail. maybe it was so that someone was there to answer 911. The fact is you don't know why the overtime was used so your opinion is not based on facts and information, but on emotion and "it just doesn't feel right". Unfortunately, the Journal didn't answer that question well at all.
i don't understand why this is even an issue. If firefighters weren't allowed to work on overtime this state wouldn't have anything left You can't just stop fighting a fire when your making progress because you've worked 8 hours straight fighting the fire.
Crime never stops as well, Deputies made overtime because there isn't enough of them to protect and serve you. If they can't go on overtime then there will be shifts where there is no deputies on the streets and crime would run rampant.
This shouldnt be an issue at all. Without Police and Fire this state would go to hell quick.
Realist, now you are grabbing at straws. The Deputy with the most overtime is a CO (jail), does not investigate squat. It's ok to be an apologist for the Sheriff, you must be one of them, if I were I would probably think it's alright too.
The firefighters are way different. We all saw them either fight fires locally or get shipped elsewhere. When was the last time that a Deputy had that kind of uninterrupted service, in Placer County anyway.
Actually Loomis, a Correctional Officer is not the same thing as a Deputy. Look at the Placer County Personnel website, they are different. You took one example and made an entire argument out of it. That's intellectually dishonest. I don't know if that CO investigated anything nor do I have any idea what he did for the OT. NEITHER DO YOU! That's why your opinion and condemnation of the employee and department is uninformed and not based in facts. You don't know the facts yet you are quick to make judgmental proclamations. That does not make for a strong or well reasoned argument. Please argue your point with what you do know. I do find it ironic that your are quick to admit that you opinion would change based on what you would get from it!
Realist, then if you know you should tell us. I called it a CO since I didn't know the correct term, it is a Deputy that works at the jail, whatever the title is. And, if you are defending overtime in excess of base pay I hope that whatever you do for the County does not involve safeguarding the taxpayers hard earned bucks. I didn't write the article, I just read it. My comment was based on excessive overtime by three individuals, that was enough to raise a flag. Agree or disagree. Perhaps I am being intellectually dishonest but the story leads the reader to believe that there is the other kind of dishonesty in the Sheriff's Department. I may have made an assumption, they did collect a lot of overtime, a fact.
All your opinions are based on emotion and complete lack of information. I find it humorous you assume the only person to point out your bias and misinformation would be a county employee. My opinion is irrelevant. I just believe that if you are going to state your opinion so forcefully, you should have some facts to back it up. You don't. Second, according to the county, a CO and a deputy are two different job classifications with a different rate of pay. A CO is not a deputy who works in the jail as you state. Even if you believe that the OT is excessive, you are just being silly to state that getting paid for hours worked is dishonest.
Realist, let's agree to disagree.
If the high hours of O/T used by several Correction Officers in the jail were spread out over the entire staff would anyones opinion change? I worked there, I supervised there, and you plain had to beg people to come in on their days off to work overtime. Those who regularly bailed you out of a minimum staffing issue in my book were saints, not someone to hammered for having done so. Without going into personal lives, you also have to ask yourself if perhaps these CO's didn't have young families that needed a mom or dad at home more often. I realize the dollar numbers are high, but there is a staffing minimum. Just like patrol, if you want less service, and a much longer wait for said service, simply get on to your supervisor and give them a piece of your mind. Let them know that crime in your neighborhood, investigation of those crimes, searches for lost citizens and all the rest is not important to you. You'd be happy to wait for the next shift...the one not on overtime.
Its strange how suddenly people are very interested in public safety overtime. When times are good nobody cares that some departments are under paid and over worked due to limited staffing and limited budgets. Many days and hours spent away from friends and families while answering the call of duty day in and day out. Working with old equipment due to over use and under funding. Limited sleep due to late night and early morning calls such as suicide, vehicle accidents, house fires, CPR, SIDS, heart attacks, etc.
And now that times are tough, we are a target for anyone who wants to throw darts.
I invite the reporter and the public to visit any fire station in the Auburn, Newcastle, Penryn, Loomis, Placer Hills, Colfax and Foresthill area and ask them how many hours they worked in the past year, how much money they made, what benifits they don't have, how old are their fire engines are and the condition of their fire station so we can give a complete story to the public.
Now the main reason I wrote is not to complain, but to request a complete investigation. If people are going to judge the fire service, then be fair and get all of the facts.
And last, I would like to respond to the letter implying spending abuse. I have to justify every hour worked and submitted on my time card. If I am not truthfull, I will be fired. Period!
If you have any questions please visit your local fire department and ask your fire fighters in person. Its that easy.
Thank you.