(July 27, 2014) -- I have sat silently by for the past six months and watched the debacle on the LB Fire Department. The debacle to which I refer is Fire Chief DuRee's "Rapid Response System" now dubbed a "Rapid Medic Deployment" paramedic system.

In the City of Long Beach, we had one of the finest if not the finest paramedic program found anywhere in the country. Today, due to his efforts and those of the previous City Council majority and our former Mayor Bob Foster, we no longer have such a paramedic program. We now have what I call a "Monomedic" program. Instead of having two paramedics assigned to a rescue squad, we now have one paramedic and an ambulance driver/EMT (with a second firefighter-paramedic dispatched to arrive on a separate LBFD apparatus, usually a fire engine.)

I'm quite sure that the average citizen in this city isn't aware of what has happened to this program and furthermore without some serious explanation wouldn't understand what has happened to the department's paramedic program. For over a year, no one really figured that this proposed program would ever get off the ground but unfortunately, and for reasons unknown to me, it did and since July 10 it has been in operation here in our city.

I can say unequivocally that I have not found one single sworn member of the Long Beach Fire Department, past (retired) or present who thinks that this program is a good thing. Of course I assume the current command staff is an exception, since I think we all understand that if one wants to be part of Chief DuRee's command staff one had better be on board with his agenda!

But I have yet to find a single member of the Long Beach Fire Department who is out in the field working every day willing to say that this is an improvement in service. On the contrary, those that I have spoken with who live in the City of Long Beach have expressed fears for their family members because they know the vulnerabilities of this program.

I spend a lot of time driving around this city and I pay particular attention to the numbers on the sides of our fire apparatus. They tell me, and all observant taxpayers, a lot about what is going on with our staffing levels, calls for service numbers, and yes just how Chief DuRee's "Rapid Response System" is really working.

In short, contrary to Chief DuRee's comments a week ago (reported by LBREPORT.com here), it appears to me that it is NOT working very well and has further strained the very fragile resources that our fire department has.

When you see an Engine (which carries 4 firefighters and can spray water on a fire) or a truck (the ones with the long ladders on them that also carry four firefighters but don't have the ability to carry water or pump water), the number on that unit designates the fire station to which it is assigned.

When I see fire apparatus that are 5-8 miles away from their assigned station I get very worried. My first thought is why is this unit so far from its station? And my second thought (and this should be your first thought) is who is out covering my backyard?

Less than a year ago a residence burned that was located directly across the street from Fire Station 17. This is the station where the fire academy is located by the way -- the family's residence burned (photos showed extensive damage, appeared gutted in part) because there was no apparatus in service at that time that had the ability to pump water -- now I can only ask myself how I would feel if my home burned because the fire station, DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM MY HOME, was unable to respond to my home to put out my fire. I feel confident that every single one of you out there would feel the same exact way!

My biggest hope is that the newly sworn in City Council, which constitutes a majority of the nine members, will all stop, ask questions, listen to the answers and then do the right thing. I have lived in this city for over 65 years and my institutional memory, in spite of my age, is pretty damned good. It wasn't that many years ago that the LBFD had a reputation of being among the best half dozen anywhere in this country. Firefighters from everywhere tested to come to the LBFD.

This wasn't because their pay was the best, because it wasn't. It was because the department had the finest men and women, was among the very best trained, had all of the necessary resources to do the job and the esprit de corps was exceptional. Unfortunately those days are gone and my sources within the department, which include neighbors who are retired from the department to those men and women whom I see driving around town, tell me that the morale today is worse than bad!

The Council needs to ask questions, lots of questions. But they need to do their homework first and also inquire from the men and women from L.A. County Fire and ask them how our new Monomedic program has impacted the mutual aid agreements between our city and the Counties of both Los Angeles and Orange.

They need to ask why there was virtually no pre-planning or pre-notification given to both the members of the LBFD and the surrounding agencies. Unintended consequences are always a reality when any new program is instituted. There have been some very deleterious unintended consequences between our mutual aid agreement in the County and our own department. Some of this has meant that some of our apparatus are now spending more time OUT OF OUR CITY, than at any time in recent history.

Council members need to ask why and demand answers from our command staff. If they tell the truth, the truth is not going to put a smile on the faces of any of our local elected officials.

Public Safety is the absolute number one responsibility of local government. Public safety's main components are police and fire. Election time is over and all of the campaign rhetoric is not much more than yesterday's politics. Now this Council has to deal with real people, real problems, and if they do their jobs the way that they promised that they would they need to solve problems not create more.

Unfortunately the previous Mayor and City Council, by their actions on this subject, created a huge problem for both the men and women of our fire department as well as the citizens that they are sworn to serve and protect. Let's see what happens in the coming weeks. I can tell you one thing and that is that this Chief is not going to get a free pass from this citizen!

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