By Orlov
Daily News
LOS ANGELES — Despite criticism that a consultant failed to meet with rank-and-file firefighters, two city panels Friday urged that steps be taken toward reforms of the Los Angeles Fire Department that would streamline operations and respond to the increasing priority of emergency medical care.
A special meeting of the City Council’s Public Safety and Budget and Finance committees said a working group of city officials should be formed to review a report from PA Consulting on suggested changes for the department even as it undergoes an additional review of its hiring practices.
Councilman Mitch Englander, chair of the Public Safety Committee, said he wants the entire City Council to weigh PA Consulting’s recommendations, particularly as they relate to response times and emergency dispatch.
“This is one of the most important things we have to deal with,” Englander said. “We need to have a full City Council discussion before the public on what we will do.”
In the meantime, he and the two committees said they wanted feedback on the creation of a working group that would come up with solid proposals based on the consultant’s recommendations.
Additionally, Englander wanted specific reports back on key proposals such as hiring civilian computer technicians to oversee the department’s current systems and partnering with the Los Angeles Police Department on a joint operation of a computer-aided dispatch system.
Criticism of the study came from Frank Lima, president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, who said the union was never consulted on the report until it was in its draft stage.
“We have come to the fundamental conclusion the PA report is woefully lacking,” he said. “It is disappointing since the city spent $500,000 in developing it. We agree the LAFD needs improvement, but we want to be part of that process.”
Lima and Deputy Chief Andy Fox, president of the Command Officers Association, disagreed with a proposal to civilianize those who field emergency calls, saying there is a higher turnover among civilian dispatchers and the city must incur extra expenses to replace them.
However, they agreed on the need to study ways to change the boundaries of the department and create bureaus, a move modeled on the LAPD’s structure.
“Our basic deployment plan is from the 1950s and 1960s,” Fox said. “Our deployment model hasn’t changed since then, and we agree there is room to make change.”
However, he added, the city needs to appoint a permanent chief before any changes are made. Interim Chief James Featherstone has been pushing reforms, consensus is it will be difficult to sustain them if a new chief comes in soon.
PA had urged that the next fire chief be signed to a five-year contract, similar to how the police chief is hired.
Lima said the report failed to give enough weight to the cuts the department has experienced over the past several years, and Councilman Paul Krekorian, chair of Budget and Finance, agreed.
“It is a remarkably inexpensive department,” Krekorian said. “We pay about 40 cents a day for our fire service. People pay 10 times that for their cable bill.”