Fremont CA Firefighters attacked by City Admin.

[tfogle]

I personally HATE it when people are walking the intersections asking for money. BEGGARS SUCK! whether firefighters for a good cause or not.

However, those guys should come to SF, I would rather see a firefighter there than some smelly old bum. (and you see 'em everywhere!) (God forbid we trample the civil rights of the homeless and tell them they can't stand in the middle of the street.)

[Chief Taylor]

It just demostrates how importent it is to have full support of Fire Admin and the City Admin as well.

We got prior approval and were suuccessful in raising over 70K in 14 Hours.

For a small department, is not bad, there were a couple of mad motorist but many many more that were so happy to be able to do something when most felt hopeless in being able to assist.

We are required to wear safety vest and helmits if entering traffic lanes. Easier sell for safety during the drive.

[BIG PAULIE]

Las Vegas collects for the MDA boot drive every year and also collected for the FDNY This year.

[Dalmatian90]

Is this the same Mayor who spoke at the 1710 appeal. The Mayor who held up a sprinkler head and said, "It doesn't take four of these to put out a fire". If it is I'm sure he's not concerned about his Firefighters' safety.

If it is, I would stand up an applaud him.

What is more about firefighter safety than prevention and minimization? Those sprinkler heads will save more firefighter lives than every 4,5, or 6 man company ever will. Fire Prevention is the only thing that is proven to reduce firefighter deaths & injuries (look at the statistics folks, injury & death rates constant on a per fire basis for two decades now -- we only kill fewer 'cause we have fewer fires)

Yes folks, you can be for firefighter safety AND technologies that minimize the need for firefighters. Most of the world would call that a good thing...after all, we should be trying to put ourselves out of business.

[MFD516]

Is this the same Mayor who spoke at the 1710 appeal. The Mayor who held up a sprinkler head and said, "It doesn't take four of these to put out a fire". If it is I'm sure he's not concerned about his Firefighters' safety.

Keep collecting, stay safe, and watch out for this guy he might be driving by.

Get political, it's time for a new mayor in Fremont, CA.

[Grit]

Find another place if it's against the law.

Same as parking FD vehicles in fire lanes.

[gunnyv]

The community I work for has an ordinance forbidding working in traffic for donations. We stood in front of the grocery stores and Kmarts. We managed to collect about $40K over 2 days, but a neighboring dept-with less guys-worked the traffic at our border intersection for one day and brought in $80K. However, I agree with our not trying to fight the ordinance.
We know we have a special, tragic situation, but how do you let the FFs do it and then deny the right to MDA or the Knights of Columbus? Are we telling them that a dead FF is more tragic, and his family more deserving of assistance, than a child with cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy?
Another thought-the FDNY has enough grief to last a lifetime-I'm sure they don't want to hear that a Brother got killed by a car trying to help them.

[Dalmatian90]

tell the mayor or city manager to back the f**k off and show some respect for the dead

Nice Waterboy, nice.

Maybe show some respect for your leaders, and they'll show more respect for you.

[Waterboy620]

Our city changed the laws on collecting money in the street for us to help raise money for our fallen brothers. And I can not believe that 1. You were not allowed to do it on duty and 2. that you are in trouble for it. And DUH....you know its not every day that we loose 3 times the number of firefighters that we do in an entire freaking year in less than 20 seconds. **** on the legal and safety concerns. If you dont like being held up in traffic for an extra 5 minutes then you can go pound sand up your ***. I was out there for three days and I was in no more danger than I normally am working a damn car wreck. Hey....guess what....I get paid to do things that might get me killed! Its my damn job and it was also the damn job of the 300+ brothers we lost. And out of respect and honor, I stood out there and helped collect 70,000 dollars. Sure its not alot, and we will never get recognized for our contribution, but dammit when our brothers needed us, we did everything we could to provide as much help as physically possible. It makes me want to throw up when I read about these *** hole chiefs that are getting in the way of firefighters that want to help out their "brother from another mother". Grow some damn balls, tell the mayor or city manager to back the f**k off and show some respect for the dead. This has got me so ****ed off I swear to God if I had a water mellon here right now I'd pull an old school Gallager and bash it into a freaking pulp.

[DFD FF]

Our department raised $400,000 in a four-day boot drive, which is an awesome showing, especially considering that most of the wealth in this area resides outside the city limits. But, to be honest, I wouldn't want to do it again.

The day I collected, we set up on a very busy, seven-lane avenue, near the stoplight intersection of another busy road. Many of the folks were extremely generous and it was touching. But some folks were annoyed -- justifiably, I think -- at our rig blocking one of the lanes near the intersection and the four of us human pylons walking through the traffic. I did not feel especially safe during our two-hour stint, especially as it started getting dark.

Our crew raised nearly $1,500 that day, which was gratifying, and I got to interact, however briefly, with lots of appreciative citizens. But it wouldn't have surprised me if one of us got accidentally clipped (I had several close calls). I was almost happy to get to the relative safety of a house fire immediately after dodging that traffic.

Based on my experience, I can see why municipal leaders and administrative types might not want fire personnel conducting boot drives in traffic. Even if the safety of firefighters isn't their main concern, I imagine there are liability issues. It's an effective way to raise a lot of money for a good cause, but next time I'll hope my officer sets us up at a busy shopping center.

[NY Smokey]

Here in NY, the State DOT has asked that we not do boot drives. They cite the obvious hazard to our personnel and confusion to the public (do they have to stop for us?). We've had to think of other places to set up. Some depts have collected money at busy shopping centers so that they are not in the roadway. I am all for raising money for the fallen brothers and their families but I want to keep my guys safe in the process. The way people drive these days (distracted by CD's, phones, etc) the more we are out of traffic, the better. Good luck.

[Engine 101]

Down here in Monrovia (CA) we did the same thing about 2 weekends but neither our Acting Fire Chief or Mayor had any problem with us standing out in the city streets raising money,

[Dalmatian90]

Firefighters were denied a request during the summer to conduct a similar drive that would involve collecting donations in the streets, because of safety and legal concerns, Perkins said. Previous knowledge that this type of activity was illegal and the firefighters' refusal to stop Saturday prompted the city's investigation, she said.

Duh. You've been told a couple months ago you couldn't do it for another cause. What makes it right now?

The city should cooperate with the FFs to find a solution, and the FFs should be willing to compromise. But that doesn't excuse violating the law.

The public may have re-found respect for us, but it still isn't right to flaunt that respect by doing things even "off-duty" others wouldn't be allowed to do.

(Besides, it could be worse...you could have your Chief saying no, and showing up at the check-hand over ceremony (Few in DC) )

[Jpelk]

Union Brothers and Sisters,

The Fremont Fire Department (Fremont, CA) is under attack by their city and administration.

On their days off, Fremont Union Firefighters have been participating in a "Fill the Boot" fundraiser. The firefighters have managed to raise $65,000 dollars for FDNY.

The city manager, mayor, and fire chief have publicly attacked the firefighters for collecting funds on city streets. They point out that the firefighters fundraising methods are in violation of the vehicle code. As the city manager said, "collecting in the street sets a bad example and is unsafe."

The administration has threatened demotions for all firefighters involved. Please distribute this information to every union member so that we can rally support.

For a full account of the story, go to:
http://www.argus-ang.com/default.asp...962&article=on

To contact the Fremont's city manager directly: [email protected]
To contact the Fremont fire chief directly: [email protected]

For other City of Fremont contacts, go to: www.ci.fremont.ca.us/fire/administration.html