City Councilmembers Concerned with L.A. Fire Chief's Staffing Plan

The Los Angeles City Council could use the upcoming budget talks to assert its influence on a much-debated plan by city Fire Chief Brian Cummings to reassign firefighters, with one councilman saying today he is not "on board" with the plan taking effect May 5.

Cummings proposed staffing 11 more ambulances with firefighters currently working on fire trucks.

During this morning's Public Safety Committee meeting, Councilman Mitchell Englander expressed alarm at the plan.

"I have serious concerns," said Englander, who chairs the committee. "I'd like to see the data come back" that shows if the plan will be safe.

Englander said City Council will get a chance to weigh-in on the chief's plan during the budget sessions starting next week.

Cummings said yesterday the department could avoid going through with the plan if they were given $11 million to restore staffing levels.

Englander who is vice chair of the Budget and Finance Committee called Cummings' plan a "knee jerk reaction" to budget limitations and said he would "continue to fight" to get more funding for the department.

"What are we going to do to make sure that you have the equipment, the resources, the boots on the ground, enough staffing? That's really the big picture," he said.

Despite protests from a Los Angeles firefighters union and an association of assistant fire chiefs, the board of fire commissioners took no action yesterday to stop Cummings' from going through with his plan.

Cummings will reassign one firefighter from "light force companies" to ambulance duty. He said this would better match the department's resources to the 85 percent of calls that are medical-related, while leaving trucks and engines free to respond to fires.

Chief Officers Association President Andy Fox called Cummings' plan "ill-conceived and unsafe" during Wednesday's special Board of Fire Commissioners meeting that was held to hear their grievances, along with that of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles, a firefighters union.

Fox cited firefighter professional standards that say light force companies need at least five people, with three of them being firefighters. Cummings' plan would take the number down to four, with two of them firefighters.

"I just think we need to slow down" and study alternatives for increasing the number of ambulances while maintaining staffing levels within fire companies, he said.

Fire Commission President Genethia Hudley-Hayes who supports the plan, said "change is difficult and a culture shift is difficult," but added she wants to see results.

Cummings will return to the board on May 21 with a full report on his implementation plan. The chief has been under pressure to reduce the departments fire response times.

District 11 City Councilman Bill Rosendahl asked for a comprehensive citywide study of public safety response times in the areas most impacted, which includes the hillside communities of Pacific Palisades and Brentwood.