April 28, 2009 – Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has signed state legislation (HB 2420) expanding the list of cancers presumed to be work-related for Oregon fire fighters. The law is effective January 1, 2010.
“This was a very proud moment for Oregon fire fighters,” says Oregon State Fire Fighters Council (OSFFC) President Kelly Bach. “Over the last two legislative sessions, the OSFFC has really ramped up its political action. We can now see that all of that work has paid off.”
The key components of OSFFC’s political action strategy included reaching out to employer groups and electing a fire fighter to the state legislature. With tremendous support from Oregon’s fire fighters, Gresham, OR Local 1062 President Greg Matthews defeated an incumbent for the Oregon House District 50 seat in November 2008.
HB 2420 passed the Oregon Senate 27-1 on March 5, 2009, after passing the state House 55-1 a few weeks earlier.
The current law covers heart and lung presumption. HB 2420 adds 12 types of cancer to the list presumed to be job related.
Source: IAFF.org
LACoFD air operations firefighter-paramedics are trained for virtually any emergency situation.
Working with one pilot, two firefighter-paramedics staff each LACoFD helicopter air squad. The air operations section staffs three air squads 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, drawing from its total fleet of six Bell 412s and three Sikorsky S-70 Firehawks.
Each day, three multi-mission helicopters are deployed throughout the 4,000-square-mile expanse of Los Angeles County, meeting the emergency needs of its 10.5-million residents. One air squad covers the eastern part of the county at Brackett Field Airport in La Verne. The second is in the north at Fire Station 129 in Lancaster. The third is in the west at Camp 8 in the hills above Malibu during the day and returns to the centrally located Barton Heliport at the night.
During the high fire-danger months of July through January, each year, an additional two helicopters are staffed during daylight hours. One is a Firehawk, which is stationed at Camp 9 high in the mountains north of Barton Heliport. It is tasked as a fire ship and has a 12-person wildland fire fighting hand crew. The second is a Bell 412 command and control helicopter that is assigned as the helicopter co-ordinator platform. It has a wildland-qualified chief officer and pilot and is based out of Barton Heliport. Both of these additional aircraft respond automatically on all reported brush fires anywhere in the county.
Said Capt. Eric Fetherston, one of the three air captains assigned to Barton Heliport, “We operate 24/7, just like a fire station does, with an A, B and C shift, each starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 8 a.m. the following day.” [click to continue…]