L.A. Fire Dept. Budget Calls for Hiring 250

Stretched thin by an increase in calls, Los Angeles firefighters and paramedics would get some reinforcements under the budget the fire chief proposed Tuesday.

The budget submitted to the Fire Commission for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would provide for hiring 250 firefighters to cover expected attrition and would expand the workforce by 30.

The department has 3,562 firefighters and paramedics. In 2005, the department received about 24,000 more calls than it did the previous year, for an increase of about 3%, according to Battalion Chief Ron Leydecker.

Pat McOsker, president of the firefighters union, supports the budget proposal that was sent to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for consideration.

“Being a firefighter or paramedic in L.A. is one of the most challenging jobs in the country,” McOsker said. “We need to keep up with the call load.”

With three-quarters of all calls coming in for medical service, the proposed budget also calls for training 24 firefighters as paramedics during the next fiscal year.

Villaraigosa will take the budget recommended by Fire Chief William Bamattre under consideration and may make changes based on the city’s overall budget priorities, according to Janelle Erickson, a spokeswoman for the mayor.

Although the mayor has called for departments to look for ways to trim costs, the Fire Department is facing some rising expenses just to maintain staffing.

A program that allows firefighters to defer retirement for five years while receiving their salaries will begin to see a costly spate of required retirements in 2007, according to Georgia Mattera, the city fire administrator.

As a result, while the department would normally lose about 100 firefighters in a year, the new budget calls for hiring 250 just to keep up with the expected attrition, Mattera said.

Bamattre is also asking for a larger support staff, including 13 dispatchers and call takers, and civilian workers for equipment maintenance and technological backing.

“Civilian staffing has not kept pace with the overall growth of the department, with only seven support positions added in the past five years,” Bamattre wrote to the mayor.

The department also is proposing $3.68 million in new fee revenue, much of it coming from more inspections in a booming building industry.

The budget also proposes funding to implement a citywide disaster preparation program.