El Segundo to merge fire department 'only as a last resort'

Most of the uneduacted low IQ firemen in El Segundo make over $25000 a year , putting them in top few percent of incomes in the United States.Most have only a high school degree and ther are an abundance of qualified people who would take the jobs for $70,000. El Segundo is similar to Bell with the sky high salaries of public employees. The LA Weekly recently did a story on the grossly inflated salaries of public employees in El Segundo. Why aren't they in jail with Rizzo from Bell ?

turk 182 wrote:

<quoted text>
Dude the last time I saw county fire trying to put down a blkaze it was obvious that they were all affirmative action hires. Not just by appearance. Their performace sucked. it looked like a bunch of rehtards dressed up like firemen for halloween.

It doesn't take much intelligence to be a fireman so there is no reason to pay them as if they were ivy legue graduates.
Get rid of the public employee thieves of your tax dollars and hire people for $50,000. Many govt employees in El Segundo are no more than paper pushinfg secretariea but they make $300,000.
Bring the torches!

fred wrote:

You people in el segundo deserve a volunteer department,you guys are idiots. the reason no fireman lives in the city is because its too expensive. you sound like a bunch of tax cheating consevative wussies who are envious of the firemen and dont amount to a pimple on there ass.

Why would anyone with a few neurons be jealous of a fireman ? They point hoses at fires which doesn't seem too interesting or creative to me. Actually there are very few fires so they are paid to do nothing.

El segundo resident wrote:

One thing dave b is a fatty who when tried to make it into the fire department didn't make it so he went to ucla for money. So there is one reason why he is bitching. He keeps saying he isn't bitching but if he wasn't then he wouldn't make his blog in the first place think about that? Also in his last blog he accuses the esfd of making a blog resembling "the gundo blogger" theirs is completely different and also don't they have as much as a " freedom of speech" as you as you had stated in another post Dave. And also why don't you tell everyone who really called who first with turnbull dave you lying wuss. If you aren't so afraid why'd you post salaries in a website? I honestly hope some one throws a brickin your window and when you call the police to come save your fat a$$ no one comes. I vote burns to be captian and police chief as he keeps saying about all these pay cuts hell if u can do it for free Dave and think you can do better I say go go it Dave. Keep the the citizens of el segundo in their security bubble and keep their lives soooo perfect where there is no harm in their life would u really put your face in front of a gun to save a complete stranger? Please you don't have the guts. Half of the citizens here feel so safe because the espd ha kept their lives safe. Let's see what happens in a matter of an hour if espd took a furlough day all of them off let's see what happens to your safe life won't be safe for very long would it? And just to let everyone know el segundo is the ONLY city in socal who doesn't pay for trash pick up. We want everything handed to us we are a bunch of materialistic premadonnas I know people in other cities they pay 5000 annually we pay HALF that. So dave how about some real facts from now on. Coming from a gundo resident who knows the facts

Retard,
The issue is not whether or not to have police and fire depts . The issue is whether thay are paid three times the amount El Segundo needs to pay to get qualified people ie people with 90-100 IQs to do the jobs and the answer is yer they are paid too much.

El Segundo Resident wrote:

i guess im confused you read these articles and believe what they say? if you read an article your spouse is anorexic you'd believe them? and nope no fire fighter or police officer i dont have the guts to stand in front of a gun trying to kill slums like you. do you have the guts to stand in front of a gun? put your self in an officers shoes next time when you have a gun at the back of your head dont you want a police officer to come save you? thought so. and sorry for your confusion your mistake people travel :)

Contrary to popular belief , cops and firemen have a statistically very low probability of being seriously injured on the job .Cops a re cowards anyway . When we have riots the cops barricade themselves in the station, don't venture out and only show up for work to get their fat salaries.

Then tell me about the cops that died with in the last 20 years or the two cops that got shot one may I add in the mouth and the other in the chest twice would you like to explain that?

PublicSafetyProject_org wrote:

Out of 57 full-time sworn firefighters in 2009 for whom data was released (PublicSafetyProject.org ):
The maximum, average, and median pay were:$270,052; $161,704; and $157,682.

Out of 64 full-time sworn police officers in 2009 for whom data was released:
The maximum, average, and median pay were:$425,775; $139,121; and $131,868.

What else needs to be said?

Average fire/cop salary =$161,000 & $139,000!(That BTW, I'm guessing, does not take into account the fact that once they reach their retirement years, get this salary til death.)

How can ANYONE justify this level of compensation? All the goodwill, the actual good work/service that these people provide, gets thrown out when you take into account how much they STEAL from the public they are purported to serve! Highly offensive!

steve wrote:

This guy, "the el segundo blogger" doesn't know what he's talking about either. He thinks that just because he posts a bunch of stats, copies and pastes other articles that talk about the budget crisis going on, that he's a pro on the topic. Well...I know one thing for sure, the fire department has already taken a hefty salary cut (no overtime, reduced staffing, and agreeing to concessions). I support the move to LA County, just because it saves almost 100 jobs in the city, saves the city money, and doesn't have the "City of El Segundo" contributing to the already large un-employment numbers in the country.

Well "stevie",you union suck-up, since you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground
I will correct your UNION bullshit.
1) Salary cut: IF you are OVERPAID by 100% and your salary is reduced even 50%(not the case here) THEN you are still overpaid by 50%.
2)No overtime: Crap! since the work schedule, 48/96, is STILL in effect and overtime is based on working (even while they sleep on the job)at 84 hours in a 24 day cycle since they work a 4 shifts at 24 hours each(4x24=96)THEN they are GUARANTEED 10 hour overtime per cycle.
I know this information seems complicated, but it is still fact.
The unions create these formulas to confuse people from understanding what is really going on.
3)The reduced staffing (see#1) reduced from 19 to 15 per shift, BUT still 40% MORE staffing then Manhattan Beach, that has TWICE the population.
In comparison EVERY fire department even has a ratio of 1 firefighter per 900 people, EXCEPT for EL Segundo, it's 1 firefighter for every 230!
AND last.
4) Concessions? like the city no longer contributing to your 401?
Poor baby, you, of course, are forgetting the Cal-Pers pension plan the keeps city is still paying AND the fact the city is paying YOUR part of the Cal-Pers pension plan.
The FREE medical to you AND your EVERY family member FREE FOREVER AND even after you did the city will still be on the hook to continue paying for your dependents.
While you are at it tell everyone about being paid for getting a college degree, NOT paying you for getting a degree, BUT PAYING JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE IT, EVERY YEAR FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, EVEN AFTER YOU RETIRE.(it is factored into their pension)
So now,you whinny little creep, maybe people will understand how it is that the lip prints on corrupt Union Politicians ass match your mouth.

I am now an old man, but once i was young and strong, i served my country with four years in the Air Force, and was assigned to the Crash Rescue Fire Dept. We were involved in saving lives of young pilots who crashed on take-off and landings, along with the fires that occurred on the Air Force Base. After discharge i moved to Manhattan Beach in 1961, and secured a position in the North American Aviation Fire Dept. We protected the L.A. Airport in those days, because L.A. City did not have a fire station there,. I started to take entrance exams for local fire departments, Redondo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, L.A. City, L.A. County etc. Eventually i was appointed to the El Segundo Fire Dept. I was very proud to serve the citizens of this quaint small town. We took low salaries at that time, because part of the promise of the job was that when you retired you would have a good pension, and be repaid for the low salary. Not everyone can be a Fire Fighter, it takes training, it takes ability, it takes understanding of the complexities of various structures, it takes the ability to take orders from the Officer in charge, and it takes guts. No you do not need a collage education, but it might help, no you do not need to be a paramedic, but you might save some child from death, no you do not have to be a hero, but sometimes you are, not by choice but by necessity. So how do we compensate people who do this work? I mean what is your child's life worth? or your Wife, or Husband. Why do those of you who have never served your country or your fellow citizens deplore those who choose to. You accept corrupt politicians, and vote them into office time and time again, but do nothing about them. Yet attack men and women who every day come to the assistance of the people they are sworn to serve, and sometimes use their common denominator GUTS!!! OH! YES! Statisticians, did you ever take a Fire Dept entrance exam?? Anybody who doubts my qualifications to write this comment check with the El Segundo Fire Department.

Johnny C wrote:

The few years that i lived in El Segundo, I really enjoyed the city. That was 20 years ago. Things seem to have changed in this very tiny city.
For the life of me, I cannot see why the city council has such concern about losing a fire staff that never really has to fight fires. If they can save that much money, why are they hesitating? I agree with Richard Cory that the Union is probably hiding some deal and I am sure that the city council is not as clean as people may think. The city has the opportunity to rid itself of an extremely expensive fire department that has ten, yes I said ten fire captains. With one fire every three years, and with the schedules that these folks work, I wouldn't be surprised if the average captain sees a fire every 10 years ... and they all make a quarter of a million a piece ... let's be real here.
"I take my role very seriously.... My obligation is to this community," he said. "The last person who would ever want to turn this Fire Department over to the county is Kevin Smith."
I am sure ... ever see how much money this guy makes?
Besides outsourcing the fire department, the city should also start looking at ways to reduce the size of their city operations and outsource it as well to a private industry that is cheaper, more productive and more efficient for the citizens of the city.

Someone please take a look at the Fire Chief Kevin Smith's salery

Today, 3/13/11 a helicopter crashed into a Raytheon building, causing a fire. Who did El Segundo call for help? L.A. County Fire. Who did the U.S. Government send to Haiti, Christchurch, and Japan for earthquake assistance? L.A. County, one of only 2 U.S. teams certified by the Government for international heavy rescue. Turk sounds like an idiot, who needs to learn to spell. Living in Torrance, he apparently doesn't know that Torrance, in a major emergency, also counts on L. A. County Fire for help. And for others who think the small El Segundo FD provides better service than would the County, they should know that L.A. County is considered by those in the fire service as one of the worlds premier fire agencies. Do a little research. Remember, the first paramedics in the nation were L.A. County Fire paramedics; they were not from El Segundo.

turk 182 wrote:

No bigger bunch of self entitled and self centered ogvernment workers than firemen. They really don't do shiite, especially in El Segundo where most of the large employers have their 'in house' fire deaprtments that do all the heavy lifting, such as Chevron, Northrup, etc etc.