The city has inflated its estimate of the costs should voters place the fire department under civil service, the Seguin Professional Fire Fighters Association says.

SPFFA Public Information Officer Chris Chomel charged the city cooked the books in arriving at its estimate.

“The association feels that the city’s figures are overly inflated,” Chomel said. “We have done our own cost analysis, and we just want the voters to hear and understand the costs from our side as well.”

The report of the SPFFA’s analysis published on the front page of the association’s Internet Web site offered a detailed analysis of the city’s position and went much further — ratcheting up the rhetoric by calling the city’s mention of a possible tax increase a “scare tactic” and referred to other aspects of the city’s position such as the need to pay for legal representation or an employee to administer the program as “propaganda.”

“The bigger truth is that (civil service) requires neither,” the report states.

The association, an affiliate of the International Association of Fire Fighters that advocates for training, safe work conditions and fair compensation last month circulated a petition asking voters to support a special election to determine whether workplace rules in the local fire department should be changed from “at will” to civil service, which is set out under Chapter 143 of the Texas Local Government Code and sets out rules for hiring, promoting and disciplining firefighters,

Tuesday night, City Council is expected to vote to accept the petition and call a special election to be conducted alongside the council seat elections that will also be on the May 8 ballot.

Firefighters say civil service removes the potential for abuse by personal preference, political considerations or prejudice and creates a professional environment that will attract the best possible candidates to fill future openings in the fire department.

Often, firefighters say, Seguin only has several applicants when a position comes open at the fire department. In other cities that have civil service, there are dozens, they say, and sometimes hundreds.

City officials said in a study released two weeks ago that the program could cost $600,000 to $700,000 per year and result in a potential property tax increase of six cents per $100 — and city staff recently recommended to council that it postpone consideration of a $10.2 million bond issue for street improvements until the outcome of the May 8 civil service election is known.

The SPFFA says it would more likely be about one-fifth that amount, if that.

“The city’s costs estimate shows that they have added their current liability of $560,000 of which is already budgeted into the equation for implementation,” Chomel said. “So if you were to just look at it with a passing glance, it does look like it’s going to cost that much, but the reality is it’s not, and our numbers show that.”

City officials say they’re not certain how the firefighters arrive at their assessment of the city’s costs — but say they stand behind the estimate published earlier.

“This is our best estimate, and we think it’s still a conservative estimate of what the costs will be,” said Seguin Human Resources Director Tammy Garcia.

City Manager Doug Faseler, who has said the city would see increased costs for leave and vacation coverage as well as administering civil service, said he believed the firefighters were mistaken if the $560,000 figure included monies budgeted to pay for sick leave or vacation time, because the city doesn’t pay those on a cash basis now.

City Attorney Andy Quittner said he’d studied the law on the issue — including case law provided by the firemen on their Internet Web site — and said he reads the law differently and believes the city would be responsible for paying for past sick time under civil service.

“On the case they cite, the statute has been completely re-written,” Quittner said Friday. “It’s probably like applying oranges to apples. We feel we would be responsible for what’s on the books today in addition to any future accrual under civil service.”

Faseler agreed with Garcia.

“We feel our figures are realistic,” he said.

If passed by voters, civil service law creates a formal structure for handling the fire department’s employees, requiring the city to appoint a volunteer, three-member civil service commission to oversee personnel actions at the department, including hiring, promotion and disciplinary decisions.

If adopted, civil service would not give the SPFFA collective bargaining authority, and it could be repealed in another election once it has been in place for at least a year.

City officials say it would hamstring them in terms of promotions and other personnel actions — and create a class of employees who are treated differently than the rest of the city’s workers, which raises concerns about favoritism and morale.

Firefighters say there already are differences in that public safety employees are held to higher moral standards than the city’s other employees — and firefighters sleep in city buildings and work longer work weeks.

In 2004, voters turned down the idea with 1,028 votes for approval and 1,764 against the move.

The Seguin Professional Fire Fighters Association has published its own study of the costs to the city of implementing management of the fire department under civil service rules. It can be found at www.seguinpffa.com.

Arlington Fire Chief Robin Paulsgrove will retire in May after 13 years as the city’s top firefighter and director of emergency management.

Paulsgrove, who was appointed chief in 1997, helped guided management and planning of homeland security to address threats in the city’s growing entertainment district, including developing a public safety plan for the new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium, according to the city.

Paulsgrove also promoted the mayor’s CPaRlington CPR training program, introduced public access defibrillators and pushed for better partnerships between fire stations and neighborhoods through the “Out of the Station, Into the Community” program.

“I will miss Arlington and the outstanding men and women working here a great deal,” Paulsgrove said. “The challenges of the last decade have been exciting and I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of something grand.”

Before coming to Arlington, Paulsgrove served 22 years as fire fighter and fire chief with Austin’s fire department.

Assistant Fire Chief Don Crowson will become interim chief May 1. Interim Chief Don Crowson will assist in the transfer of leadership

“Chief Paulsgrove has been instrumental in building a first-class fire department,” said Arlington City Manager Jim Holgersson. “His attention to detail, employee development and mission orientation has created a sophisticated and exemplary fire department.”

Mayor Robert Cluck called Paulsgrove a “tremendous asset for Arlington. His compassionate approach and genuine desire to help people is reflected in the professionalism he has instilled in our Fire Department.”

A frequent author and public speaker, Paulsgrove was elected President of the International Metro-City Fire Chiefs’ organization and was appointed to the Board of Directors for the National Fire Protection Association. Before coming to Arlington, Paulsgrove served with the City of Austin Fire Department for 22 years as a firefighter and later as Fire Chief.

The City will initiate a recruitment and selection process to name a new Fire Chief by late May or early June. The City plans to consider both internal and external candidates.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/03/15/2040891/arlingtons-top-firefighter-to.html#ixzz0iHgnLC8a

A man at the fire, Larry Castle, said that he was doing yardwork for the homeowner, L.B. Small, and was burning the debris when it spread out of control. However, it appears that no one was monitoring the controlled burn, and the storage building fire was actually discovered by Fire Marshal Robert Matheson who was driving by. Matheson used his radio to report the fire to dispatchers, and the Jasper Fire Department arrived a short time later.

The storage building and its contents were completely destroyed, but the wind blew the flames away from the nearby house.

“It looked like it had been total chaos,” said Llano County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Glen Williams.

Williams stared at the charred bits of shrubbery, reminders of a six-hour stretch that set CR 216 and several other county roads ablaze one year ago. “We were under a burn ban,” Williams said, “a drought situation. We were lucky a bunch of them didn’t get out of hand.”

In the time since that night, life returned to those roadsides, and evidence submitted to the Department of Public Safety Crime Lab connected the suspect to the crime. Harden, a local painter, was the same man Williams’ office arrested that night for driving while intoxicated.

“He crashed his car on County Road 413 not too far from a fire,” Williams said.

Most of the 11 fires were away from any homes. The closest structure was a house, which escaped damage by a hundred yards.

As the flames spread, some burned as many as five acres in some areas. It took every firefighter in Llano County, plus some from surrounding communities to extinguish them.

“(It) stretched beyond their limits,” Williams said, “but did a real good job of getting them contained and getting them out before they could just get real big.”

As officials work to build a case against the suspect and possibly tie him to more fires in San Saba County to the north, Williams said he hopes this arrest teaches would-be arsonist a lesson.

“They’re putting a lot of lives in danger doing this.”

“I concentrate on the road, he operates the siren, I operate the Q2 and the horn and watch where I’m going and blinkers and that’s that.”

Allen said he makes certain of that.

“We actually turn the computer away from the driver so he doesn’t get distracted so he can’t look at it,” said Allen who adds the trip to and from an accident or fire can be dangerous.

“The driver doesn’t talk on the phone when he’s driving whether it’s a call or not a call, he can’t use the cell phone. If there is a cell phone in use, it has to come from this side,” Said Allen.

DPS Trooper Lonny Haschell has been in law enforcement for 22 years, he says he started with a pen, notepad and map. Today, he said there’s so much technology there’s barely room for him.

“It is and if you’ll noticed how low it is positioned in here, where I can still see my rear view mirrors, all three,” Said Trooper Haschell.

Haschell said the new technology makes for quicker response times and all troopers go through three weeks of training to integrate the car with technology. Still, it can be a daily battle to stay focused.

“You are so tempted just to look at it, oh, there is nobody in front of me and answer that, we have the same temptation and we’ve got to make sure that it’s appropriate that it’s safe to do so and we don’t end up crashing our car or hurting someone while we’re responding to help,” Said Trooper Haschell.

There is no data that tracks technology related emergency crashes and Haschell says he’s not aware of any near misses. Back at the fire station Allen said if they don’t arrive safely, they can’t help.

“The only thing we want the driver to do is focus on driving and there there safe, and that’s it.”

When fire fighters arrived the homeowner with a garden hose had extinguished the fire.
The home received fire damage to the exterior.Fire crews checked inside the home to make sure the fire was completely out.

Nobody was injured in the incident. The fire is under investigation.

It’s one of many simple exercises Wofford and other instructors teach residents during the Community Emergency Response Team training. The program educates residents on skills needed after a major disaster. Search and rescue and fire prevention techniques, evacuating people from a damaged building and basic emergency medicine are taught during the training exercises.

“It’s all about yourself, your family and your neighbors,” Wofford said. “You can save more lives.”

The training is provided by the Brazoria County Office of Emergency Management and the Homeland Preparedness Project based in Alvin.

Murphy Rankin, executive of ActionS Inc., took the training course a few years ago. He said the important part about the training was learning basic things people should know but don’t. “I’ve never popped out an extinguisher to put a fire out,” he said.

Wofford and other instructors have trained about 300 people in Brazoria County in community emergency response.

The latest crop of about 23 trainees will have a final training and graduation session March 20 at the Treasure Island Community Center, where they will respond to a simulated disaster. In the exercise, the trainees’ skills will be tested.

Wofford said the situation is kept secret until the trainees arrive at the scene.

“I try to do something that’s realistic for that area,” Wofford said. “We’ve done tornadoes and we’ve done hurricanes.”

If an area is hit by a hurricane or a tornado and someone has a serious injury, it could be a long time before emergency medical personnel arrive, said Steve Rosa, the county’s deputy emergency management coordinator.

“They never have enough staff to handle the entire load” in an emergency, Rosa said. “That’s why we look for volunteers.”

Sweeny resident Tracy Srubar said the program also teaches how to deal with those affected psychologically by a disaster.

“It can be really stressful on you because of the people who want your help,” she said.

Participants said the emergency response training shows residents how to find people who are stuck in debris and how to get them out by using leverage.

“It will help people make progress when something happens,” Srubar said.

The skills are simple things people should learn, said Bill Ray, executive director of the Homeland Preparedness Project. The more people are educated, the more they are going to help emergency responders during disasters, he said.

“Your alternative is to sit around and wait on help to come to you,” Ray said.

Those wanting to participate have to be older than 17 and not a registered sex offender. The program is free and also will require online courses, officials said.

Firefighters extinguished the fire before it consumed the whole structure. They said the home was empty and had no electricity. They believe the fire was arson.

Cottage Grove is located very near the Heights – a neighborhood plagued by a serial arsonist last year.

HFD officials said there have been several suspicious fires in the area in the last week.
No one was injured.

Three people live in the house but they were not home at the time. Firefighters say improperly discarded smoking materials started the fire. t caused $125,000 damage.

He felt the heat from the blaze and was able to wake up and escape before the flames engulfed his house, a Harker Heights Fire Department news release stated.

“I heard a popping, popping, popping,” neighbor Nancy Murphy said. “Then I saw a brightness through the window.”

Murphy ran outside to see the blaze and was about to call 911 but the fire department was already on its way, she said.

“It was like a mushroom cloud,” another neighbor, Jamie Murphy, said. “I stepped outside and I kind of screamed.”

The resident called 911, HHFD Deputy Fire Chief Glenn Gallenstein said. By the time the fire department had arrived, the home was already engulfed in flames, the news release stated.

With aid from the Killeen Fire Department, firefighters extinguished the flames and protected surrounding residences by making an exterior attack on the structure, the release stated. The blaze was out in about 15 minutes.

“Anytime we have structures close together, radiant heat can actually start a fire in other buildings,” Gallenstein said.

“Stopping fire from spreading is a very important of our job. We want to make sure it doesn’t get into other structures to cause any more damage.”

The attack prevented significant damage to the other buildings, but there was some heat damage to the homes, Gallenstein said. The damage was only to siding and didn’t damage the structures of neighboring homes.

Fire investigator Stacey Alley determined the fire started outside the home in the area of a gas-powered generator, and the smoke detectors for the building were not working, the release stated.

Officials are unsure whether the generator malfunctioned or if something else caused the blaze.
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Harker Heights home lost after fire
By Louis Ojeda, Jr. at KXXV News, Killeen Temple Waco
A resident’s mobile home is a total loss due to a fire Wednesday evening. Fire units from Harker Heights and Killeen responded to a mobile home fire about 10:30 p.m. Monday at the 200 block of West Robin Lane.

The resident of the home was asleep at the time of the fire and awakened by the heat. The smoke detectors in the home were not operational, however, the resident was safely outside when fire units arrived.

No injuries were reported, however, several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. The American Red Cross is providing temporary housing and additional assistance for the residents.

Harker Heights Fire Investigator says the fire likely started outside the mobile home near a gas powered generator.