Wendy Greuel Speaks Out Against Plans to Reassign Firefighters

    Mayoral hopeful Wendy Greuel today joined other city leaders in urging Fire Chief Brian Cummings to rethink his plan to reassign some firefighters to ambulance duty starting May 5.
   Los Angeles Controller Greuel, appearing at an event with firefighters in Venice, said funding the fire department is a "top priority" and pointed to new revenue in the city budget that could help pay for services.
   She also proposed slashing 25 percent of the City Council's discretionary funds to help pay for fire department expenses.
   "First responders get up every day knowing it could be their last and we owe it to them to give them every tool, every resource available to do their jobs, save lives and come home to their families,'' said Greuel, who is endorsed by the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, a firefighter union.
   Cummings says his plan will add 11 more ambulances to 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.
   Jeff Millman, spokesman for Greuel's opponent Councilman Eric Garcetti, said Garcetti is also skeptical of Cummings' plan. Millman said Garcetti will not support Cummings' plan before seeing "real data on how this (plan) will reduce response times."
   Councilman Bill Rosendahl also issued a statement saying the fire department "can't afford to have one less firefighter on their engines."
   Some other members of the Los Angeles City Council's Public Safety Committee also have expressed concern over the fire chief's plan.
   "I have serious concerns," Councilman Mitchell Englander said at last Friday's committee meeting. "I'd like to see the data come back" that shows whether the plan will be safe.
   Englander, who is also 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.
   He said the City Council will get a chance to weigh in on the chief's plan during budget sessions starting Tuesday. Cummings has said the department could avoid going through with the plan if they were given $11 million to restore staffing levels.
   Chief Officers Association President Andy Fox called Cummings' plan "ill-conceived and unsafe" during a special Board of Fire Commissioners meeting held last Thursday to hear their grievances, along with that of the firefighter union.
   Fox cited firefighter professional standards that say light force companies need a crew of at least five people, with three of them 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, Fox said.
   Fire Commission President Genethia Hudley-Hayes, who supports the plan, said that "change is difficult and a culture shift is difficult," but she added she wants to see results.
   Cummings was scheduled to return to the board on May 21 with a full report on his implementation plan. The chief has been under pressure to reduce the department's response times.