Opposition firefighters say, ‘It’s not about safety’

By Jim Brunson

It seems that not all Mission firefighters are in favor of collective bargaining. In fact, almost one-third of active firefighters in Mission oppose Proposition 1.

Mission firefighter Rene Alvarez, who has been with the department for five and one-half years, says there are about 20 firefighters who oppose collective bargaining, including some who are union members.

Alvarez and firefighter James Cardoza, a 13-year veteran of the Mission Fire Department, feel so strongly about the issue that they are actively speaking out about it.

“We have always gotten what we need,” said Alvarez, noting the city has always been responsive to the needs of the Fire Department and the firefighters.

“It’s not about safety concerns,” said Cardoza. “It’s about power—union-controlled power. It’s a process of [steps]; civil service is [step] one; collective bargaining is next, and next is binding arbitration. In order to be able to go to court and sue, you have to have all three steps in place. This is just step number two to get binding arbitration.”

“I personally have not seen any safety concerns. It’s about money more than anything else, and fringe benefits,” he added.

One of the safety concerns put forward by the union leaders is the replacement of two, 15-year-old fire trucks currently used by the department. Alvarez said these trucks may be old, but they are well maintained and can still perform as needed.

“I drive, Engine #2,” he said referring to one of the 15-year-old pumper trucks. “It has never kept us from being able to respond to a call,” Alvarez said. “It will get the job done.”

He further explained that NFPA Standard 1901 says a frontline unit can be in service for up to 25 years as long as it passes pump tests and other testing. Fire Chief Ricardo Saldana has made similar statements, explaining that this truck and all the fire trucks undergo a rigorous maintenance program to keep them in top shape for fighting fires.

The other 15-year-old pumper is on reserve status and is called into action when another unit is being repaired, according to Chief Saldana. This unit was put on reserve status when the city purchased a new truck last year for Central Fire Station at a cost of $367,816. The Chief said he is planning to propose the purchase of two additional fire trucks in next year’s budget.

Safe Protective Gear

The union has filed complaints with the Fire Chief about the condition of their personal protective equipment (PPE), which is the protective suit a firefighter wears at the scene of a fire.

Alvarez explained that the firefighter is responsible to inspect his own gear everyday and report any damaged gear.

“We are responsible each day to check our gear. Our lieutenant is also responsible; we have a gear check and he has to inspect it, but it’s primarily up to us to inspect our gear for tears or heat damage. The material used for our gear, if it is exposed to too high a temperature, it changes color. So that’ll let you detect [any heat damage]; you’ll have to report it. There is a criteria of how big the size [of the damaged area] is before we have to send it to the company to have it inspected or to have it repaired.”

“They (the city) just ordered new gear and they sent our gear in cycles to get it inspected by a professional company. In the meantime, they rented gear for us. The people who needed new gear, they got them new gear,” Alvarez added.

“If you need new gear, they’ll replace it,” he said. If it needs repair, they’ll send it out to the professional company to have it inspected and repaired or replaced, he said. “I had a small temperature mark on my gear and they said let’s send it out,” stated Alvarez.

Cardoza addressed the same concerns, saying, “Our [PPE gear] just came back from a six-month inspection. They check everything. If it’s good, they send it back to you; if it’s no good they won’t send it back to you. Every year your gear has to be inspected by a professional company.”

Alvarez said he is not aware of any Mission firefighter who has ever been injured due to unsafe equipment.

“I’ve never felt unsafe. I don’t think [the Chief] would ever let anything unsafe go on,” he said.

“All We Want Is A Voice”

In the call for collective bargaining, union leaders have repeatedly said, “All we want is a voice, a place at the table.”

Alvarez said the firefighters have always had a voice. Every year before the chief prepares the budget he asks every firefighter to give him a wish list. He meets with all the shifts and tells them to give him their ideas about what is needed. “So everybody has a voice,” he said, not just the union members or the non-union firefighters. “The chief has always had an open door policy,” he added, but he has to justify the department’s needs to the city manager and city council. “You have to look at the big picture,” he said.

“It’s easy to say, ‘I want a new truck with a tough notebook and Internet directions sent directly to them,’” stated Cardoza. “In business you have to justify what you’re asking for,” and be reasonable, he said. “You have to make sure you really need it.”

“You can’t just go out there and just ask for anything. The city doesn’t have a blank check. ‘We want rec

iners, we want TVs.’ [Most] of the stuff [they ask for] is for leisure, and another 30 percent is outrageous in cost,” said Cardoza.

Global Information System

Another request by the firefighter’s union is the implementation of a Global Information System that, for example, would show the location of fire hydrants in the city. They say this would help firefighters coming on the scene of a fire, but only if the trucks are also equipped with GPS, or Global Positioning System equipment, and the appropriate software.

Alvarez explained that the city is already in the process of implementing the system, but it typically takes five years for a city the size of Mission to input all the information for the system. Mission has already been working on a system for two years, he said. Information is currently being uploaded for the locations of fire hydrants, water lines, sewer lines, manholes, power poles and other infrastructure.

“I’d like to hear them say, ‘What can the union do for the city? How can we help ourselves? How can we help you implement this GIS system?’” said Cardoza.

Chief Saldana said in a recent interview that no other fire department in the Valley has a GPS system in place, that he is aware of. He also confirmed that the City of Mission has been working on a GIS system, inputting data for about two years. He added that in the upcoming budget cycle he is looking at ways to accelerate the implementation of the GIS system for his department.

“It’s All About Pay and Benefits”

Those opposing Proposition 1 have said, “It’s not about safety; it’s about pay and benefits.”

When asked if the firefighters are happy with their current pay and benefits, Cardoza said, “I always tend to think I am worth more than I am getting paid. But the market puts a value on any job.

“If I was making $50,000 per year and the city manager said, ‘You want $60,000? How about $70,000?’ Sure! ‘How about $80,000?’ Keep it coming. ‘How about $100,000?’ You’re never going to say no. It’s a human thing to always want more,” Cardoza said.

Alvarez said, “It’s in our hands as to how much we get paid. How bad do you want it? You can advance. When there is an opening for an engineer, they will announce it. There will be a test, but you can study at the station [while getting paid]. Each station has a set of books. How bad do you want it? Because when you move up, your pay goes up.”

The city gives certification pay for firefighters who qualify. The firefighters can take classes for training and certification, and the classes are always posted at the Central Fire Station, he said. Many firefighter training classes are held in Mission and other Valley cities, and firefighters are regularly sent out of state for Haz Mat Training and to College Station for regular trainings.

Firefighters can even earn a college degree. Certified firefighters receive free tuition if they attend a state college. Then the city pays more to the firefighter who has college hours, Alvarez said.

“Everything has to be about money,” said Cardoza. The union members want to know, ‘Are we going to get paid?’ he said. “This class goes toward your advanced certification and the city is going to pay you another $1500 on top of your base salary. ‘Are we going to get paid [while we take the training]?’ Now you’re asking for double pay.”

Good Faith Bargaining?

“The definition of bargaining is give and take,” said Alvarez. “Up to now I haven’t seen the union give. It’s always take, take, take. How is it going to change now? When are they going to start giving, instead of the mentality, ‘Give it to me, give it to me, give it to me’? How’s it going to work for the city when they’ve proved to us that ‘because you don’t want to do this I’m going to go to collective bargaining’? If collective bargaining goes through, what’s the next step? Are they going to go to binding arbitration?”

He added, “People have a lot of respect for the Mission Fire Department, especially our special ops teams. We’re known for having good training, a good department, a good chief and good equipment. Not too many chiefs go out on a mutual aid call out in San Manuel till midnight. But he does because he wants to make sure we’re okay and everything goes okay. He does it because he has dedicated his life to the city. He’s off; he could be at home.”

“We’re not the poor department they portray us to be that lacks equipment. We have very good equipment, very good safety records,” Cardoza said.

Hurricane hunters make first tour stop in Brownsville

By Edwina P. Garza

BROWNSVILLE — Bill Miller is obsessed with hurricanes. After Hurricane Beulah ripped through the Rio Grande Valley over 40 years ago, ruining the roof of his Harlingen home, Miller has become extra cautious when hurricane season starts, reading all he can about storm formations and their likelihood for destruction.

On Monday, Miller met with the real experts. Crewmember of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hurricane hunter aircraft flew to Brownsville for the start of a tour between the Gulf and Atlantic coasts before national Hurricane Preparedness Week next month.

At the tour, schoolchildren, city and county leaders along with the public were free to roam the 35-year-old plane and meet with the crew that flies through hurricanes.

Wes Crouch, a crew chief on the plane, has spent a year flying through hurricanes and said he doesn’t really see the fear factor anymore.

“You have to be a professional in order to do it,” Crouch said as a line of Brownsville area residents grew to view the plane that has flown through hurricanes like Bonny in 1976 and Dolly and Polamar in 2008. “It’s kind of an unnatural act.”

A former pilot with the Navy, Crouch knows all about tense situations, but said he and his crew is focused on their work. The aircraft, when on mission, has about 20 people each with a job to measure different elements of a hurricane.

Crouch said the information gathered like temperature, wind gust speeds, moisture in the air and air pressure, among other things, are transferred via satellite to the National Hurricane Center. The information allows forecasters to analyze and predict changes to the hurricane’s path and strength.

“We can be flying a storm or doing (tours) from one day to the next,” Crouch added.

Crouch said the things he enjoys about his jobs are the team of scientists he works with that are dedicated with a high skill level.“They really know their business,” he said.

This year’s tour, which takes Crouch and his crewmates to Beaumont, Baton Rouge, Pensacola and Sarasota, Fla. are another aspect of the job Crouch likes.

“I help get the word out to people to prevent damage,” Crouch said. “I dig that part.”

The message officials were spreading on Monday was insisting residents prepare for hurricane season, which starts on June 1.

“It’s never too early to get prepared,” said Barry Goldsmith, a meteorologist with the NWS out of Brownsville.

Bill Read, the director of the National Hurricane Center, said while 2009 was a quiet hurricane season, 2010 might be active.

And with people here still fixing the problems Dolly left behind, Read said he believes people will be more active about addressing hurricane concerns now rather than a day before the storm makes landfall.

“One of the things we’ve learned in the talks with people, after every hurricane within five years of the hurricane, people are better prepared,” Read said. “Over time we soften the memory, but people will be willing to be more prepared when that memory comes back.”

Over the years, the NHC has spent a lot of their research efforts trying to figure out how hurricanes get so intense, Read said.

“We’ve been making steady improvements on the tracking,” he explained.

As Read and Crouch met with local residents to discuss hurricanes, the biggest questions children and adults alike asked what it was like being up in the air with the storms and whether they’d be researching any hurricanes that hit here.

“I’m sure we’ll be here,” Crouch said.

Miller, who met with the hurricane hunters, also met with different retailers and local emergency responders to discuss hurricane preparedness.

“It’s good to know someone is watching with these expensive tools,” he said, looking at the aircraft.

MPO discusses efforts to make transportation easier

By Edwina P. Garza

EDINBURG — At this week’s Hidalgo County Commissioners’ Court, a consultant for the Hidalgo County Metropolitan Planning Organization stressed that cities within the county continue to collaborate together to ensure better transportation options in the future.

Andrew Canon, the transportation director of the MPO, said the board is looking to the future and developing long-range scenarios for the next 25 years in Hidalgo County.

“It’s more of an all-encompassing approach to it,” Canon explained.

Andrew Howard, an urban planner with Kimley Horn & Associates consulting with the MPO, presented an update to commissioners what’s being done to improve the future transportation here.

In 35 years, the Rio Grande Valley will be like Austin is today, Howard said. In order to ensure a fluid transportation system in the future, the county has to act now.

“How do we accommodate those” people, Howard asked.

Beyond creating new roadways and highways, a number of metropolitan areas are revisiting their downtown areas, which are now being considered valuable assets for economic development and transportation hubs, he said.

Additionally, the MPO is looking at making transportation connections with buses and rail transit.

If the county and state don’t act soon to alleviate transportation congestion, the public will pay the price, he said.

“If trends continue, we’re going to spend more time in our car,” Howard said.

As the MPO maps out the future, Howard said officials are continuing to encourage cities to work together and with the county for coordinated efforts on investments for transportation projects.

“The MPO wants to be more of a partner,” he said. “We want to coordinate more.”

In other action items, the county approved the health department’s request for marketing and hosting an H1N1 clinic at El Centro Mall in Pharr. Additionally, commissioners approved a request to allow the department to apply for a grant with the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration’s Health Care and Other Facilities Program for a mobile health unit.

Eddie Olivarez, the director of the health department, said the unit would be used for education and assessment. The cost of a mobile unit is approximately $374,000, Olivarez said.