CPF Fire Wire

On this episode of CPF Fire Wire, CPF President Brian Rice sits with Monterey Firefighters Association, Local 3707 President, Ross Pounds and Chula Vista Firefighters, Local 2180 Political Action Committee Chair, Drew Smith alongside with CPF's very own Deputy Political Director Joe Armenta to discuss the importance of why we need to get involved in issue affecting the California fire service at a local level.

For decades, CAL FIRE firefighters have been forced to work 72-hour workweeks despite the standard 56 implemented at many departments around the state.  This has led to retention issues for the department and caused harm to CAL FIRE firefighters' families, physical health, and mental health. 

Governor Gavin Newsom has included the 66-hour workweek in his proposed 2024 budget, which is currently under consideration by the California Legislature, bringing Local 2881 one step closer to parity. 

On this edition of CPF Fire Wire, CPF President Brian Rice meets with CAL FIRE Local 2881 President Tim Edwards to discuss their ongoing fight to bring the hours in their workweek closer to the rest of the California fire service. The CPF membership has stood in solidarity with Local 2881 in this fight, and will need to continue to do so to help them get to 56.

CPF Pres. Brian Rice speaks with Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg on Proposition 1 and being part of the solution.

For many Californians experiencing homelessness, firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics are the first and only resource they have when they are in crisis. This is an unacceptable and unsafe reality, both for the Californians who are in need of shelter, services, or treatment and for the firefighters and EMTs who are charged with responding to these crises.

More resources are needed for targeted solutions, and a higher priority must be placed on treatment and housing as permanent solutions instead of a temporary fix for those who struggle with homelessness. This is why Proposition 1 is needed in California. Prop 1 is a commonsense solution that will fund programs that get people the treatment they need - not in tents or in jail cells. Prop 1 doesn’t raise taxes, and Prop 1 doesn’t take funding from existing firefighter budget resources.

CPF President Brian K. Rice sits down with Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg to discuss Proposition 1, which will be on our March primary ballot in California.

The 2023 legislative session in Sacramento wrapped up with solid wins for California's firefighters, the result of CPF's strong advocacy that works across the partisan aisle.

On this edition of CPF Fire Wire, CPF President talks with Republican Assemblyman Heath Flora of Ripon about the legislative year, significant measures for firefighters, and the importance of working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Funded by the Department of Justice, the Cal-LAST program is the result of a landmark partnership between the California Fire Foundation and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. This critical team provides comprehensive rapid-response support for local fire departments that lose one of their own. The primary mission of the team is to provide assistance and comfort to the family and department in the immediate aftermath of a line of duty death and help with filing DOJ-PSOB, state, and local benefits. 

CPF President Brian Rice sits down with two members of the Cal-LAST team to find out what drives them to support the fallen and their families and peers. Thomas Jay is a retired Battalion Chief with the City of Riverside Fire Department. He has led the CPF Honor Guard for more than two decades and has been part of Cal-LAST since its inception. Tracey Hansen is a retired Chief of the Cosumnes Fire District who is a member of the CPF Pipes and Drums and has recently joined the Cal-LAST team.

In this episode, they discuss how they became involved with Cal-LAST and what it means to them to support the fire service and the fallen brothers and sisters. Thomas and Tracey also break down the various components of the team and how they provide support to fire departments across California.

Firefighters are exposed to stresses on the job that few can contemplate. Sometimes, the job can take its toll. Nationally, firefighter suicides now consistently exceed the number killed in traumatic incidents.

As part of the joint fire service Suicide Prevention and Awareness Stand Down in May, CPF President Brian Rice reconnects with Oxnard Fire Chief Alex Hamilton.

A former Oxnard Firefighters board member, Chief Hamilton has developed groundbreaking peer-to-peer suicide awareness training for firefighters. He was first interviewed on Fire Wire in 2019.

Among the subjects discussed are the impact the past four years, including the pandemic and increase in catastrophic wildland fires, have had in firefighters' mental wellness and what individuals can do to help themselves and others at risk of suicide.

CPF President Brian Rice continues his conversation with retired Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 President Richard Mayberry about the Sacramento firefighters strike of 1970.

Mayberry and over 400 of his fellow firefighters walked off the job in October of 1970 in an action that had broad ramifications for the firefighter labor movement. Mayberry himself was arrested, tried and acquitted for his role in the action.

Listen to Part 1 HERE: https://cpffirewire.podbean.com/e/cpf-fire-wire-sacramento-firefighters-on-strike/

At a time when firefighters were underpaid, disrespected and subject to the whims of their employers, the firefighter union movement asserted itself in the early 1970s with an unprecedented wave of strikes.

On this edition of CPF Fire Wire, we present Part One of a two-part episode that tells the story of one of those strikes, and how it was part of a pivotal moment for firefighters and the labor movement.

Joining CPF President Brian Rice is Richard Mayberry, longtime president of Sacramento Area Firefighters 522. Mayberry was a relatively new firefighter in October of 1970 when more than 400 Sacramento City firefighters walked off the job.

In Part One, Mayberry talks about the conditions firefighters faced at the time, and what drove them to an action that put every firefighter's job on the line.

Civilian federal firefighters  have finally won a protection that state and local firefighters in California have had for 40 years -- a workers' compensation presumption for firefighter cancer.

The victory, part of the federal defense authorization passed last year, caps a decades-long fight that was led by California's federal firefighters.

On this CPF Fire Wire, CPF President Brian Rice discusses this important victory, and the work done by CPF and IAFF to help federal firefighters, with Charlie Martinez, CPF's 5th District Vice President and a 31-year federal firefighter.

The California Firefighters Memorial is a touchstone of remembrance for frontline firefighters and their families. The centerpiece of this tribute -- the Memorial Wall that carries the names of more than 1,500 fallen firefighters -- is running out of space.

CPF President Brian Rice talks with California Fire Foundation Executive Director Rick Martinez about the meaning of the Memorial and plans to expand it to ensure that all fallen firefighters can have their sacrifice memorialized.

cafirefoundation.org/memorialexpansion