Save Johnstown's Firefighters

COUNCIL MEETING DATES HAVE CHANGED TO DEC 13TH !!!

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:07:00 +0000

The Council Meeting schedule for Dec 7th has been rescheduled by council to December 13th. Please make a not of the new date and remember to get on the agenda no later than Dec 9th at noon. Come and voice your concerns, demand your elected officials act on this now.

How To Help !!!

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:01:00 +0000

How Can I Help?

Have you read the information on this site and are wondering what can you do to help? The most important thing you can do is to ask the City Leaders to reverse what has already been done! Stop the layoffs and fire station closures. Tell them this is unacceptable and demand the fire protection and service that you pay for and deserve!

There are two ways to do this.

You can make your voice heard by getting on the agenda to speak at Decembers council meeting. You must stop in at the City Manager’s office and request to be on the agenda by Friday December 9th before noon to speak at the Dec 13^th meeting.

You can also call your City Leaders by phone.

City Manager’s office- 533-2001
Fire Chief’s Office- 533-2060
William Gentile, Jr- 535-6466
Frank Janakovic- 535-2027
Rose Howarth- 535-2499
Pete Vizza- 536-4198
Anthony Pinozzotto- 539-1416
Marie Mock- 539-0181
Jack Williams- 262-8303
Ann Wilson- 536-0483

Thank You for your support!

A call for action !!!

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 23:59:00 +0000

Citizen Call to Action!

We would like to ensure that the citizens of Johnstown who care enough to visit our site understand the situation that is currently unfolding. The citizens of Johnstown have been protected by a career fire department 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for over 100 years. At one time, the City staffed and maintained 7 fire stations with 106 firefighters. That number has been reduced over the years to the most recent 3 fire stations and 41 firefighters. These stations are located downtown (Washington St), Hornerstown (Ash St), and in the West End (Fairfield/Broad St.).

The City and the Union have commissioned many studies over the years in search of the Cities operating efficiency as a whole. There was one common thread in all of these studies. The number of fire stations could not be reduced! Do to the geographic layout of the City and the location of the fire stations, closing any of them would lead to increased response times to reach citizens in need and an unsafe fire ground for the firefighters.

Most recently, the City leadership has decided to immediately reduce the department by 4 firefighters with as many as 8 by the end of the year. This reduction in manpower has caused the closure of the downtown station. What does that mean? First and foremost, the Fire Department prides itself on being able to quickly reach a citizen in need anywhere in the City. That was before the closure of the downtown station. The immediate effects are to the residents of the Downtown wards, Conemaugh borough, Prospect, Kernville, and Woodvale. If you are reading this and live in one of these neighborhoods your fire station is permanently closed. If you have a fire, accident, or medical emergency you will have to wait until the fire truck from the West End or Hornerstown station gets there. Obviously, a significant increase in time while you wait for help! This does not mean the other City neighborhoods protection remains the same. For example, the residents of Moxham or Oakhurst, you will have a quick response from your neighborhood fire truck just as before. However, the firefighters on this truck will not have enough manpower to safely and effectively perform many of the duties required. Normally, our help is not very far away. Traditionally it has been a 4 to 5 minutes response from the Downtown Station. Now, after the Station closure firefighters have been waiting 12-15 minutes (at recent fires) for the second truck to arrive.

As we have tried to illustrate earlier, your safety, our safety, and our ability to save your property directly relates to the number of firefighters available and a quick response to the scene. This is a serious safety concern for you, your family, and our firefighters. We have evaluated actual response times from incidents before and after the firefighter layoffs and we have determined that these times have generally DOUBLED! These facts easily illustrate that your safety (and ours) has been dangerously reduced!

We ask that you contact your City Leaders to demand the safety, protection, and service that you pay for and deserve!

ISO - Or why this may cost you money

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:32:00 +0000

The Insurance Services Office (ISO) is charged with rating communities for their fire protection capabilities which in turn affects fire insurance rates. Communities are rated on a scale from 1 to 10. An ISO rating of 1 is the best and an I
SO rating of 10 is the worst. Individual fire insurance companies base their premiums in part on a communities’ ISO rating. The rating score is based on 3 components; fire department 50 percent, Water supply 40 percent and alarm (911) capabilities 10 percent. There is no set formula for what each insurance company does with the community ISO rating. Average increases for higher ISO rankings range from 2 to 10 percent for each point increase in ratings. Johnstown currently has an ISO rating of 3.

THIS IS BASED ION LARGE PART BECAUSE OF THE JOHNSTOWN FIRE DEPARTMENT.

The staffing reductions, station closing and delayed response times because of that closing are going to negatively affect Johnstown’s excellent ISO rating. Residential and commercial fire insurance premiums are going to increase.

If you are concerned with this very serious situation please call your city council and make them aware that you want the Johnstown Fire Department fully staffed and all of the fire stations open and properly manned.

Unknown Reasoning

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:44:00 +0000

There are several organizations in the United States that provide guidance and set Minimum standards for fire department operations. The 3 below are some of them, the top two providing guidance to the fire service and the third providing guidance to City Managers. Take note of the recommended 16 firefighters on scene.

We are being asked to provide fire protection for you and your family with 6 firefighters and a supervisor. Not 10 and not 12 but 6. Think about that , the City Managers' own organization recommends 16 and they are asking us to respond with 6. Evidently your safety is "Not" a concern.

U.S. Fire Administration (USFA): recommends that a minimum of four firefighters respond on or with each apparatus.⁵

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC): advocates a minimum of five persons on engine and ladder companies. Noting that the reduction of members per unit and that the number of units has reached dangerously low levels, the IAFC says it would be “inappropriate” to accept or support further reductions.⁶

The International City Management Association (ICMA): states in “Managing Fire Services” that at least four and often eight or more firefighters, each under the supervision of an officer, “should respond to fire suppression operations.” Further, it says, “If about 16 trained firefighters are not operating at the scene of a working fire within the critical time period, then dollar loss and injuries are significantly increased, as is fire spread.” It has found five-person companies 100-percent effective, four-person companies 65-percent effective, and three-person companies 38-percent effective.

Why Seconds Matter To You

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:09:00 +0000

Why Seconds Count..

You may have seen our other posts, news stories, or newspaper articles about response times. More importantly, how the closure of the downtown fire station increases the time it takes us to respond to your emergency. In some cases you will see response times to actual incidents. They show the time it takes the various pieces of equipment to arrive on scene. After reading these times you will see increases from
3 minutes to 6 minutes or 6 minutes to 12 minutes. Unless you have experienced a fire in your own home or are a firefighter yourself, these increases may seem small. The reality is that firefighters have a very small window of opportunity to make a difference. Whether it’s actually rescuing a person from a fire or just trying to reduce the amount of damage to your property, every second counts. We have chosen a few short video clips which will show how rapidly a fire spreads in your home. This hopefully will demonstrate how dangerous these response time increases are. Please call your City Leaders and tell them that this is unacceptable!

Why seconds count. Produced by IAFF Local 731:

Christmas tree fire:

Fun City Facts #3 - A Raise ..... Really ???

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:56:00 +0000

A Raise??? Really ???

Fun City Facts- #3

2010-2011 City Leaders Raises

You may have heard City leaders in recent interviews say that “The firefighters had to be laid off because the budget was so tight”. Or “We have very little wiggle room in the budget”. Well, we decided to investigate these claims. As promised, we would post our findings on this site for you to read and make your own judgments on these statements. The following information was taken from City budgets and also, the City Managers contract (all of which is available by request at City hall). As you can see, the adopted raises of 3% may not raise any eyebrows as they are consistent with most collective bargaining agreements. However, the additional raises, which were amended in an executive session in March of 2011, should definitely catch your attention. It should also be included that the City Managers contract allows for a $3,000/year vehicle allowance. This additional compensation would take the Managers salary to $83,000. In closing, it would seem that in an extremely tight budget year (in which firefighters are laid-off and the downtown fire station was closed) the City Leaders found approximately 10.25% or $17,772 in “wiggle room” for their raises while your safety and ours was compromised.

Fun City Facts #2

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 15:44:00 +0000

Here are a few more facts for you to read over. There is a lot more to come, especially regarding the ISO stuff(we know, it is very confusing) but we will lay it out for you down the road. The important thing to realize
is that while they are cutting your services, they are notcutting your taxes, and the cuts WILL cost you more at the end of the year, ESPECIALLY if you are a business.

The 2008 Staffing Study made 8 suggestions to increase staff and save revenue. NONE have taken place.
At the time of the Staffing Study, The Johnstown Fire Department responded to 2242 incidents (2007). JFD responded to over 2800 last year.
http://blogs.forbes.com/davidwhelan/2011/03/22/americas-sickest-city-is-miami-the-rest-are-all-over-the-map/

Per Forbes Magazine – regarding Heart Attacks, Johnstown is the sickest city in America. Ironically, JFD's EMS responses were slashed right when these staffing changes were being made.
Firefighters don’t respond to just fires anymore – rescues (water, high/low angle, trench, vehicle, confined space, elevator), hazardous materials incidents, flooding, alarms, trees down, medical calls and anything else that dispatch doesn’t know who else to send – we go. These all require more training.
Newer building construction (along with Johnstown's older style homes, balloon-frame construction (means open void from basement to attic), etc and modern"contents" more flammable – buildings collapse quicker, and without sprinkler regulations, effecting a rescue must be done quickly. Contents of homes are made cheaper and produce more toxins now (synthetics in furniture, carpet, etc). To cut to the point, we have LESS time to get you out, in fires that are burning QUICKER and HOTTER.
The Johnstown Fire Department is an ISO 3 Department and without staffing cuts will most likely be an ISO 2 department, saving you more on your insurance rates.
ISO Ratings are based on : 10% Communications, 40% Water Supply, 50% Fire Department

Your Insurance rates are directly tied to your fire department.

OSHA 29 CFR 1910.134 – “2 in, 2 out” rule – 2 trained firefighters making entry, 2 trained back-up firefighters ready to make entry. So... per OSHA, there will be times that NO ONE can enter a home until BOTH vehicles (1 from the West End Station and 1 from Hornerstown arrive). If you're trapped in your bedroom, are you willing to wait those extra minutes? Try Holding your breath that long ?
Here is an article on ISO ratings
http://www.wtae.com/news/18008150/detail.html
And, of course...
NFPA 1710 Staffing recommendations
Providing a high quality Fire-EMS service to our community
-Calls for 4 people to arrive on scene 90% of the time within 5 minutes, 1 minute in gear
-15 people to be on scene within 9 minutes, 90% of the time
IC
Pump Operator
2 Firefighters on each attack line
2 Firefighters on each backup line
1 Firefighter for attack line support
2 Firefighters for Search/Rescue
2 Firefighters for ventilation
2 Firefighter minimum to serve as RIT, to attempt to rescue firefighters in trouble
Major or extreme fire should have at least 20-24 firefighters
These tasks need to be done simultaneously! If there isn’t someone putting the fire out – it’ll spread – and if there isn’t someone searching for you – YOU’LL DIE!

Johnstowns Firefighters Speech To City Council

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 02:14:00 +0000

Please remember when reading that this is written as an address to the Johnstown City Council, not a letter.

Members of council, I am here tonight representing the 41 sworn firefighters who are urging you to stop the recent decisions to furlough 4 firefighters, and close fire headquarters, which is the Fire Station downstairs in what is
supposed to be the “Public Safety Bldg”. These changes are unsafe for both the citizens and our firefighters. You may save money in the short term, but if you don’t stop this it will cost lives and property. This is not a very well thought out plan.

An independent consultant, retained by the city, NOT the union found that staffing levels prior to the layoffs were insufficient to protect the City. This study also revealed that all three fire stations were needed, due to the geography of the city. Response times will increase with the closure of fire headquarters. The highest life safety and property values lie in the central business district. There will be a significant increase in the time it will take to start any rescue or fire operations. A 20% decrease in fire fighters and a 33% reduction in fire protection will lead to more deaths and more property damage.

Your fire fighters have presented city administration with several cost cutting and revenue generating ideas over the years, but these ideas have fallen on the deaf ears of a financially distressed city. Most recently, Local 463 hired a health care consultant to create a nationally known health care plan which would have saved the city approximately $400,000 for the Fire Department alone. Additionally, the city was presented a plan to incorporate emergency medical services into the Johnstown Fire Department. The city was to convene a committee to review this proposal and never followed through with that promise.

When these cost saving and revenue generating ideas were pointed out to the City Manager, her reply was, “They are not interested in only saving money, they want bodies.” Obviously this is a frightening statement. We would like to know who “They” are. Are “They” the recovery team? Are “They” city council? Are “they” the taxpayers? We believe the citizens, who are now less safe would like to know. The eight firefighters who were either laid off or facing layoff would like to know. And the remaining members of the Johnstown Fire Department who have taken an oath to give up their lives if called upon to protect you would like to know.

Effective fire protection is more than just the bricks and mortar of a fire station, it is an adequate number of fire fighters who are on duty and trained to handle any emergency, whether that emergency be a fire, heart attack, flood or earthquake.

Please don’t condone these cuts and then tell the residents they will be safe, because they won’t be safe!

Johnstown’s residents can’t afford to lose any fire protection:

Insurance rates will soar
Residents and business will leave
Property will be lost
People will die

If, God forbid, one of you or somebody in the audience suffers a cardiac arrest at this or any future council meeting nobody will be coming from downstairs to save you.

In keeping with the City’s mission statement of “Friendly, Safe, and Clean” we believe that you, the residents you’re elected to serve, and your fire fighters cannot suffer the unsafe cuts proposed by the City Manager. Thank you for your time and concern for the safety of our City.

Fun City Facts #1

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 02:18:00 +0000

The City has only collected on average 83% of Real Estate taxes that are due. This is straight from the “Recovery” teams “Recovery” Plan. Take a look.

From the 5^th Amended Recovery Plan Adopted 12-30-2010

“Another problem for the City related to real estate tax collection has been the inability to collect current real estate taxes that are levied. The City has had only about an 83% collection rate over the past several years. This is much lower than wealthier communities that average anywhere from 93% to 97% collection rates. “

Table 8. History of Tax Collection and Uncollected Taxes Year	Face	Less Discount	Plus Penalty	Net Collection	Uncollected Taxes	% Of Total Tax Levy Collected
2004	4,367,103	(70,490)	25,956	4,322,570	726,085	84%
2005	4,152,106	(63,944)	36,203	4,124,365	749,547	84%
2006	4,526,507	(71,964)	21,706	4,476,248	815,999	84%
2007	4,699,521	(76,135)	20,805	4,644,191	1,090,825	81%
2008	4,987,084	(78,538)	19,987	4,928,533	732,563	83%
2009	4,488,536	(75,668)	5,848	4,742,160	971,286	83%
2010*	4,790,790	(72,980)	10,000	4,742,810	968,347	83%

How can a city operate if it cant collect what it needs?

How has this problem existed since the “Recovery” team was sent here to help the City regain solid footing in 1992?

Doesn't sound like a solid plan does it?

Act 47 - Distressed Status

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 10:09:00 +0000

You may have heard people mention something called "Act 47", or "Distressed Status" mentioned among those in power in the City Of Johnstown. Act 47, otherwise known as the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act of 1987, is the state law that the City of Johnstown has been under since 1993. Under the Act
a community may file for what is called “distressed” status if it meets any one of several criteria. The City of Johnstown filed under three criteria according to the Act. The criteria that Johnstown used was: a municipal deficit, expenditures exceeding revenues and the ever so hard to quantify, a significant decrease in the level of municipal service. Currently, there are 20 municipalities being overseen under this legislation. Since the inception of Act 47, only 6 communities have emerged from distressed status. Think about it, of all these communities being overseen by the state's "recovery" team, only 6 have been allowed to drop from the "Distressed" designation by the state since 1987.

When a community files for distressed status the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) appoints a recovery team with a recovery coordinator to oversee a recovery plan developed by that same team, so in essence they get to write their own rules. The recovery plan contains numerous recommendations to assist the financial recovery of the community. The recovery team can pick and choose which recommendations to force upon the community and which ones to ignore. Recovery plans are usually good for 3 years and need to be adopted by the municipality, if they choose not to adopt the plan formulated by the recovery team the municipality can write their own, but that one has to be approved by DCED.

If a community fails to adhere to the recovery plan they can be sanctioned by the state and state monies can be withheld. Again, it is the determinations of the recovery team what failing to adhere to actually means.

Johnstown’s recovery team leader is Attorney Jim Roberts of the firm Eckert, Seamans, Cherin and Mellott. This same firm also oversees at least two other recovery programs, New Castle and Pittsburgh. When records where last checked through the state of Pennsylvania this firm was paid in excess of $800,000 from 1993 to 2005.

In its purest form Act 47 is designed to assist communities who are in dire financial straits.

The problem with the Act is that there is no exit mechanism, a community has to ask to be released and the only person who can make that release is the Secretary of DCED. Think about it, of all these communities being overseen by the state's "recovery" team, only 6 have been allowed to drop from the "Distressed" designation by the state since 1987. There are no incentives to come out of distressed status, in fact it has been compared to municipal welfare. Act 47 has been manipulated by municipalities and recovery teams to their own benefit. Where else can you tell somebody under threat of law that they have to continue to use your services? The recovery team says you have to remain distressed and oh by the way we will remain your state paid for recovery team. Pretty good gig if you can get it.

In the past several years Johnstown experienced increased revenues with budgetary surpluses and increased services which negated the reasons the city filed for distressed status. In fact, the employees of the city forced a hearing on the issue in front of DCED. At the end of the day DCED decided not to end the distressed status and keep paying for the recovery team. Johnstown’s previous administrations have even admitted publically that the only reason they were staying distressed was to keep the bargaining units in check.

The recovery team has very rarely if ever chastised the city for financial missteps, sweetheart parking deals, where the city only collected pennies on the dollar for well over $100,000 in unpaid parking fees, the debacle which is the point stadium, the Veritas steel fiasco, the overrun on the demolition of the Swank Building and the coup de grace sale of the sewage treatment plant for less than $0.50 on the dollar. When the members of IAFF Local 463, which represents the Johnstown Fire Fighters, commissioned an independent study of the sewage treatment plant the forensic accounting firm was amazed that the city would sale the only thing that was making them money.

Additionally, IAFF Local 463 has offered several money saving and/or money making ideas to the city. Some of these ideas were novel in nature and some were already being done by other cities in Pennsylvania. None of these were acted upon, nor did the recovery team ever acknowledge them, so much for financial recovery and oversight.

Act 47 not only holds all the cards, it allows the city administration to sit back and do virtually nothing. The old, “our hands are tied” quote has been heard several times over the years by various city administrators and council people. “We’d like to make sure people are safe but our hands are tied by Act 47.”

Thank you once again, there will be more to follow so stay tuned.

An Ignored Health Care Proposal

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 01:25:00 +0000

Many of you have heard that the Firefighters Union made a health care proposal in an effort to save the City of Johnstown money. We will do our best here to try and explain a very confusing subject.

Prior to our contract negotiations we met with representatives from Millennium Administrators. This is a healthcare brokerage similar to the Gleason Agency in Johnstown. We asked them to see if it was possible to build a healthcare plan similar to what we currently had at a reduced cost. They came up with a novel approach to health care. This plan would be a high deductible plan with a healthcare savings account which would cover the cost of deductibles. There are many other municipalities using this type of plan with great savings and success. We were excited to present this plan because we understand what a burden healthcare is on the City budget.

When this new plan was compared to our existing healthcare plan the potential savings would be $250,000- $400,000 annually. This savings would vary in that range depending on the employee usage. (This was just for the fire department alone). The City only had interest in moving the fire department into the Highmark plan currently enjoyed by the rest of City employees. We then showed them the savings over that plan which would be $77,000- $180,000. Still, the City was not interested. They used an argument based on the recovery plan which stated that all City employees shall be placed in the same healthcare plan to reduce cost. Obviously, we were confused by this?? Why not place all City employees into the plan we are proposing? This would clearly show an enormous savings City-wide! The potential savings of $500,000-$1,000,000! Still, the City was not interested. Confused yet?

We then met with several members of City Council to try and explain the obvious savings to them. They all were amazed by the potential savings but questioned why the City never told them about this proposal. They assured us they would get to the bottom of this and try to get a meeting together to discuss this matter further. Unfortunately, we never heard from anyone on the subject and a meeting was never scheduled.

Since then, an arbitrated contract award placed us into the Highmark plan with the rest of the City. This plan included a significant increase in deductibles, co-pays, and prescription cost while providing less of a benefit to the member. With all the work we had done to prepare our rejected, healthcare plan you can understand our frustration! Our proposed plan was not a union tactic or charade but a true savings which was fully supported by documentation. It was presented by group of concerned City employees attempting to improve the City’s financial situation while also improving a benefit to our membership.

If you are as confused as we are after reading this we urge you to contact your City leadership and ask why??

Thank you for your time. As promised, this was the whole truth.

Welcome

noreply@blogger.com (The Thrill) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 01:39:00 +0000

For those of you just arriving here , let us explain who we are and our purpose. We are the Johnstown Professional Fire Fighters I.A.F.F. Local 463 . Our mission is to ensure the safety of the citizens of the City Of Johnstown and our safety while performing our duties. Reading this site, you will come to know the truth about the situation in the City Of Johnstown and its affect on not just the firefighters, but the citizens and business community at large. You may not like what we have to say, but we can promise you honesty. You will get the truth here, not a washed down and spun version of what you read in the paper. As a wise man once said, "the truth shall set you free" - that is our contract with you. The truth in all its ugliness, both the good and the bad. Thank you for your time, and thank you for supporting those who risk everything to serve you.