GAGGING ON LAFD ORDER A PARAMEDIC BREAKS THE SILENCE AND CHALLENGES DEPARTMENT'S HIRING PLANS.

Byline: Arthur Sorrentino

I am a 26-year firefighter/lead paramedic with the Los Angeles Fire Department. On July 12, about 4:30 in the afternoon, Battalion Chief Daryl Arbuthnott called the fire station where I work and issued a gag order. That order, in essence, said that no member of the Fire Department was allowed to speak to any member of the media without the permission of the Fire Department's administration.

I am sure that the reason for the gag order was so that no member of the department would say something stupid or arrogant. You didn't have to have a Ph.D. to figure out that permission to speak would never be forthcoming.

After reading Jordan Smith's article, ``LAFD lights into mayor,'' Daily News, July 13, it became abundantly clear why Chief Arbuthnott issued the previous day's gag order. He wanted to say something stupid and arrogant for the department administration. He succeeded beyond his wildest expectations.

I quote from the article: ``According to fire officials, the budget includes enough money for 51 new paramedics, but last week officials told the Daily News at least 150 were needed.

`` `I'm not saying we wouldn't want more people,' he said. `But we can't even fill the 51 vacancies we have; why would we ask for more?' ''

Chief, the reason you should ask for more paramedics is because of promotions, retirements and, rumor has it, more than 20 firefighter/paramedics voluntarily relinquishing their licenses so they do not get trampled every day they come to work.

``This is not going to affect public safety. It is internal,'' said Arbuthnott, community liaison officer.

Has the LAFD repealed Newton's First Law of Motion? (``Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.'')

Every time the alarm goes off, our state of rest is compelled to change by forces that are impressed on us. We are compelled to change more than 300,000 times a year. At that point it becomes external, and we, and the public, are at risk. They cannot internalize anything that affects public safety.

Again quoting from the Daily News story:

``Gaps in staffing can be made up through overtime, Arbuthnott said. `We can fill these positions with assigned hire,' he said. `Overtime is nothing. We can do an 80- to 100-hour workweek standing on our heads.' ''

Assigned hire: This is a policy by which a member of the Fire Department can be forced to work multiple overtime shifts in a one-month period. The penalty for refusing to work one of these ``assigned hires'' can result in disciplinary action against the member up to and including time off without pay. Now, if you already have an excessive number of vacancies, does it make sense to place someone off duty so you now have another vacancy to fill?

The remark about working 80-100 hours a week while standing on our heads was made by people who are not in danger of having to do it. I would refer the Fire Department administration to the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Last year, firefighters and paramedics worked $77 million in overtime - one-quarter of the entire budget - with some working 120 hours a week, officials said. Paramedics don't work continuously; their shifts include time between calls to eat and sleep, according to LAFD officials.

I apologize to the guys on my shift for the evening meal I cooked on the day they issued the gag order. I guess I was just too busy sleeping to get dinner prepared at the traditional hour of 5 o'clock. Or was it because we were responding to 911 calls? About half the crew ate at 9 o'clock. The other half ate about one hour later.

We need more people to fill the vacancies that currently exist. I acknowledge that steps are being taken to fill those positions, but doubts exist among many members of the department whether the current efforts will end the problem or whether it is just a temporary fix that will do nothing but mask the problem.

The people who have the responsibility to fix this ``internal'' situation should remove their collective heads from the sand. If it means working 80-100 hour weeks, gentlemen, then you should do it. Perhaps if you would stand on your heads then you would suffer from the same headache that you have inflicted on us all these years.

Chief, I hope you are getting more than 30 pieces of silver for this.