Local 2068; Public Information

Are we volunteers?

Everyday medical emergencies, fires and the accidental release of hazardous materials threaten the life and welfare of Fairfax County’s citizens. The 1,200 members of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department respond to these emergencies. We are employed by Fairfax County to protect its million-plus citizens from heart attacks, auto wrecks, house fires and bio-chemical agents.

We are not volunteers. We are professionals. When you call 911 you will always get a crew of firefighters who are also trained EMT's and HAZMAT first responders. Do not be confused by fire engines or ambulances that read ‘volunteer’. These rigs are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by the men and women of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.

Your taxes pay for the fuel these fire engines run on and take care of the upkeep on the ambulances. They also fund our training. The various volunteer organizations within this county provide some occasional supplemental staffing and utilize bingo money and citizen donations to help buy some of our equipment. This is not a rural county where volunteer firefighters respond from home to go to a house fire. This is a metropolitan suburb of Washington D.C., with a call volume that precludes an all volunteer workforce.

We ask you to tour your local fire stations and see for yourself who answers your emergency calls. Bring your children and your questions. We’ll be there, 24 hours a day seven days a week.

As the Association for Professional Career Fire Fighters and Paramedics in Fairfax County, Local 2068 wants to ensure accurate information about Fairfax County Volunteer Departments is available. While you may think that “my fire department is volunteer” and the building and trucks may actually say volunteer, all of Fairfax County has been protected by a full time department staffed by career fire fighters and paramedics around the clock for more than 20 years.

In Fairfax County, volunteer fire companies were incorporated in the area beginning in the late 1930’s. Through the 1960’s, volunteers were responsible for virtually all fire and ambulance service. In the 1970’s though, several factors emerged that made reliance upon a volunteer system impractical in Fairfax. They were:

These resulted in Fairfax County, as well as most metropolitan jurisdictions throughout the country, establishing a career Fire and Rescue Department. Today, virtually all 911 calls in Fairfax are answered by career fire fighters and paramedics employed by the Fairfax County government.

Volunteer Fire Departments are still responsible for emergency service in many small towns and rural areas in the United States – in fact there are still many more “volunteer departments” nationwide than municipal departments. Dedicated volunteers make tremendous contributions in communities without the resources for full time departments. However, here in Fairfax the VFD operational role has all but disappeared.

There are 35 fire stations throughout the County, and 12 of them technically remain “volunteer” stations. That is, the building and land were, or still are, owned by a volunteer corporation. Even though these 12 stations say “volunteer” on the front, ALL 35 STATIONS are staffed 24 hours a day 7 days a week by County employees.

Much of the equipment at these 12 volunteer stations is “owned” by a particular VFD, however Fairfax County maintains, fuels, staffs and operates all these vehicles. Additionally, the Fire and Rescue Department contributes about $20,000 every year to each “volunteer” station towards the loan on the vehicles. If the cost of operating an engine company at a “volunteer” station is broken down – regardless of how the truck is painted and despite the fact that it says volunteer on it – some 97% of the funding comes from Fairfax County tax dollars.

So, even though the fire truck or ambulance you see may say “Centreville”, “Burke”, “Lorton”, or “Dunn Loring” volunteers on it, its operation is almost completely funded by Fairfax County tax dollars. Ironically, when the Burke “Volunteer” Station had a fire in January of 1997, no “volunteer” fire fighters were involved in extinguishing it. All units on the two-alarm blaze (about twenty vehicles) were staffed completely by career fire fighters.

Seven of the 12 VFDs operate bingo games for funding. The others depend upon citizen contributions, most of which are solicited by mail.

The Union’s largest complaint regarding fundraising practices is that the fund drive letters are misleading, and often imply that there is a direct connection between emergency service and contributions. In reality, emergency response is virtually all funded by County tax dollars, although the VFDs may maintain part of the fire station building itself.

The volunteers have little accountability for how the “contributions” are spent. Some of the VFDs are responsible and use their funds to augment and boost emergency capability in practical ways, others seem to squander a great deal of money. Either way, the VFDs are not accountable to the community as to how the money is spent. (In fact, their finances are not made public – except Bingo revenues which are state regulated).

Professional fire fighters and paramedics do not like to see citizens blindly contributing (or being misled into contributing) to a VFD which has little responsibility for actual emergency service. Sadly, many elderly individuals on fixed incomes still “contribute” whether they can afford to or not, simply because they remember the 1950s and 60s when VFDs actually were responsible for emergency service and don’t know that things have changed since then.

There are not that many actual volunteers who participate in Fairfax County. The true number of active, trained volunteer fire fighters and EMTs is probably around 100 (versus 1225 career members). The FRD advertises much higher numbers, based on their opinion on what defines “active” and “trained”.

These members boost and support career staffing on units and staff additional units when they can. For some special occasions, such as Bull Run Jamboree or Fire Prevention Day, the VFDs turn out most all of their members and make strong showings. Many “volunteers” are administrative workers who operate bingo games or keep the books. Also, each of the VFDs pays a portion of the upkeep and maintenance of the station and equipment.

There are some well qualified, capable volunteers in Fairfax County. However, in a department this large which answers more than 90,000 calls each year and protects greater than one million people, their impact on daily service delivery is virtually nil.

Not surprisingly, one of the largest functions of today’s VFD is a “farm system” for future career fire fighters and paramedics. The best volunteers often go on to pursue fire fighting or EMS as a career. Many members of each new Fairfax County Recruit School come from some sort of volunteer fire or EMS background.

First, recognize that it is not necessary to contribute to a volunteer department to support emergency service. If you do choose to give money to a VFD, remember that you already fund emergency Fire and Rescue service through Fairfax County taxes. Your contribution goes to a volunteer entity that has great discretion on how it is spent, but little accountability for the funds.

If you would like to make a contribution directly to support the 911 system or the men and women providing the service, here are a few options:

A Day in the Life of a Local 2068 Member (Station life)

The following will depict what the day in the life of an IAFF local 2068 firefighter may be. As a background, the firefighters are assigned to one of three shifts. A shift lasts for 24 hours. The firefighter works three shifts per tour. A tour is a series of days that is comparable to a work week.

BEEEEEEP "Fairfax testing tones for Tuesday, January 13, 2004. A-Shift on duty. Operations Chief is Chief Coffman. Staff Duty Officer is Chief Kincaid. All units in service. 0701."

They day has officially began. The firefighters proceed to an assembly area for what is known as line up. This is basically where we gain information from the officer(s) in reference to the day’s schedule of events, past incidents and any other pertinent information for that day.

The firefighters now proceed to inspect their equipment to ensure readiness for response. As a number one priority, this job is taken seriously by all. We are only human and need the tools and equipment we so often rely on, to perform as designed when we arrive. It may be too late to find out an item does not work once we are at the emergency scene.

The next part of our day consists of station based schedules that are distributed during the line up. The day will consist of any combination of the following:

This information becomes very important when time is of the essence or when conditions don’t permit plain visibility.

Operational Academy Rotational Session (OARS): OARS is a training session conducted by Fire Academy staff three times a year. Each unit attends each session to provide firefighters with structured training. These sessions are used to update firefighter/EMS certifications, train on new equipment, learn new techniques, review basic skills, etc. This also provides the opportunity to work and train with multiple stations at one time.

Housework/Station Duties: Since the shifts are 24 hours, fire fighters live in the fire station while on duty. Just like home, the dishes need cleaned, carpets vacuumed, floors mopped, vehicles, washed, bathrooms cleaned, trash taken out, laundry done, etc. The firefighters are responsible for their stations cleanliness and appearance.

In between the duties/activities described above, lunch has been eaten, emergency calls have been responded to, administrative matters have been completed and non-emergency requests for assistance have been fulfilled.

And now for the item that most shifts look forward to…Dinner! Most stations send a unit to the grocery store to pick up the evening meal. Each fire station is equipped with a nice kitchen to accommodate the number of firefighters on duty. At some stations there is a person that does most of the cooking and at others, everyone shares the duty. This is one part of the day where everyone from the shift will try to sit down and enjoy a meal together. The kitchen table holds most of the firehouse memories. Although the attempt is made, many meals are interrupted by the sounding of an emergency alarm. As expected with no delay, the firefighters leave the table to provide the service they love.

As the day and night goes on, the fire station will have responded to anywhere from 3-30 emergency calls.

At 0700 hours the next morning, the BEEEEEEP “Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department testing tones for all fire stations” tone goes off again, except this time the shift has been relieved from duty by the oncoming shift.

Duane Black,
Firefighter,
Engine 15, C-Shift

A Day (and Night) in the Life of a Local 2068 Member (Communications life)

PSCC has gone to a new shift which became effective January 10, 2004. It is a modified schedule of the police patrol shift that currently does not include an evening shift. We have four squads; two work permanent days (0630-1900) and two work permanent nights (1830-0700). They are known respectively as A-days and A-nights, B-days and B-nights. We work two 12 hour days/nights, 48 hours off, work three 12 hour days/nights, 48 hours off. This allows us to have off every other Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Our pay periods have been reconstructed so that they are straight 84 hours; in contrast to our old schedule which had two 96 hour pay periods, then two 72 hour pay periods. The one thing most missed by employees is the 4 days/nights we had off after working 4 days/nights straight. Here is an example of how we work during a single pay period:

- Monday and Tuesday- A Day/A Nights
- Wednesday and Thursday- B Days/B Nights
- Friday, Saturday and Sunday- A Day/A Nights
- Monday and Tuesday- B Days/B Nights
- Wednesday and Thursday- A Day/A Nights
- Friday, Saturday and Sunday-B Days/B Nights

Each day begins with roll call at 0630/1830 which is normally held in the Community Room. Roll call is anywhere from five minutes to 30 minutes. This is a time for Supervisors to discuss events that have occurred on days off or on the previous shift, any training that needs to be done, or for us as employees to bring up any questions or concerns that we may have. We also find out what our seating positions will be for the day, as well as a time to sign up for our allotted meal break.

Once roll call is over it's off to work we go. Our daily seating assignments depend on our individual skill level; the day's staffing level and any training that is being done. There are five areas of expertise in PSCC in which employees can be qualified. Those areas are call taking, fire dispatching, PD08 (wrecker or service desk), police dispatching and teletype. Obviously if you are a new employee and only skilled in call taking, that is where you will be for the remainder of the shift. If someone is being trained in a specific area, that person and their trainer are normally assigned to that area for 8-12 hours a day. It is not uncommon for personnel to be assigned at the various radio positions or teletype for 8-12 hours each day.

Along with doing our everyday functions on the phones, radio and in teletype, we are also required to shadow all CAD events into the new ALTARIS system. If staffing allows, there are two people assigned to positions so that one can work on CAD, and the other will duplicate the information into ALTARIS. The projected time period for the implementation of ALTARIS is the latter half of February.

We switch positions every four hours: 0645, 1045 and 1445 on the day shift and at 1845, 2245 and 0245 on the midnight shift. Even if someone is assigned phone positions or radio positions for 12 hours, going from non-emergency to emergency phones can be a nice break or change of pace. Those who work overtime up at PSCC know what we're talking about!

We also are allowed to participate in the wellness program. This time is scheduled for us by the supervisors, and in order to participate, you must be cleared by your physician and take the wellness assessment test. This is an excellent opportunity to de-stress from the daily grind, as well as improve one's physical and mental well being.

Although we are normally provided with a designated one-hour meal break, it is not uncommon for someone on the squad to volunteer to cook lunch or dinner for everyone. Usually a message will go around the day before to see if anyone is interested. That person normally does the shopping and is given time off the floor to do the cooking. A set fee (usually around $5) is normally charged to reimburse the cook, and the remainder of the money goes into the squad fund for anything that may be needed in the future. (Holiday dinners, flowers, etc.)

One thing about choosing to eat at PSCC in contrast to leaving the building on your designated hour is that you might get a more nutritious meal, but those calls keep coming in. From the time you sit at your console with your fresh hot plate of spaghetti, someone will be calling to see if we will respond out for a dog that is running around; a lady that is having chest pains and her husband doesn't know what to do; a mother who wants to report her 15-year-old daughter missing, but she has no idea what she was wearing or who her friends are; citizens calling 911 on their cell phone asking for directions while they are driving 75 down the beltway (and getting irate because you are telling them to safely pull over to the side of the road); a citizen calling in an accident to which he or she states "Why are you asking me questions? I'm just being a good citizen doing my duty by calling and telling you about it," and how can we forget those tow-ins? (Darn those people for parking illegally anyway!) and the list continues. Remember when you first sat down and your spaghetti was hot? Guess what? You got it; you can either eat it cold or take a break and nuke it in the microwave. You folks at the fire houses know what we mean; we know we are sending you out the door right as your dinner is coming out of the oven!

By now it is five o'clock and if you are the lucky one on the list, you have been assigned to clean the kitchen. The upside to cleaning the kitchen: once you are done, you are done for the day while the rest of the squad is out answering phones, dispatching units to calls, and entering wanted people into the computer; waiting for the next shift to come in. Speaking of which, it is now 1800 (or 0600) and you start seeing people from the upcoming shift come strolling in. Woohooo! You know the end of your day is just about here; you start to clean your area, make sure your units are where they are supposed to be, and gather your belongings. As you patiently wait for roll call to end, you look back on the day or night you have had. It may have been a slow day, it may have been a hectic day, but you have answered every call and sent help for everyone that has needed it. You took care of the units that were responding to those calls. A job well done by all: from the call takers who took the initial and correct information, to the dispatchers who got the units to where they needed to go and made the calls that were needed to be made. We are all one big family; we depend on each other to get the job done right, and to make sure everyone gets home at the end of the day. So off we go until the beginning of our next shift.

Such is a day in the life in PSCC.

Susan Malone - PSC3 B-Days
Evan Jayson - Assistant Supervisor A Nights

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Firefighters and paramedics encourage all citizens to "buckle up for safety". Seat belts and car seats DO saves lives. Virginia law states that all front seat passengers wear seat belts and all children under years old and younger be properly secured in a safety seat. For complete information on passenger safety and child restraints, please visit the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles website (http://www.dmv.state.va.us/webdoc/general/safety/childsafety/laws.asp) or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at (www.nhtsa.gov). The Fairfax County Police Department offers child seat inspections, by appointment only, at all police substations. For information, call the public safety hotline 703-280-0559. or visit http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/police30a.htm

History & Future of the Fill the Boot Campaign

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) is the largest national sponsor of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). In the Greater Washington area, the Fairfax County Professional Fire Fighters and Paramedics are the Association's single largest contributor, having raised over $3,184,000 to help fight these muscle-wasting disease. The dollars that they raise this year will make a difference for years to come.

More than 265,000 members of the IAFF in the United States and Canada are pledged to saving lives, both as fire fighters and paramedics and as the strongest campaigners for the worldwide research efforts of MDA to eradicate 43 neuromuscular diseases . The contributions of the fire fighters also go towards MDA summer camps for children, professional and public health education, wheelchairs, leg braces, support groups and communication devices. The International Association of Fire Fighters has supported MDA for the past 53 years and has raised over $200 million in that time.

Last year, Fairfax County Professional Fire Fighters & Paramedics raised over $364,000 to benefit MDA. They raised more money than the entire state of Maryland! Their goal this year is to raise $375,000.

Not only are the Fairfax County Professional Fire Fighters & Paramedics dedicated to raising funds to fight muscular dystrophy, they also take a very personal interest in the people served by the MDA. They are always going above and beyond in whatever way they can. Union officials and department personnel come to the MDA summer camp and cook dinner for 250 campers and counselors as well as provided fun activities for the campers.

Stacy