A very big Thank You to all those who came out in support of your Fire Department! Your support is integral in helping Firefighters For Sacramento City remain dedicated to promoting the safety of YOUR Firefighters and YOU, the public. Please see below for more information on the final decision by the City Council and to read about the issues our Fire Department faces today:

Sacramento City Council has approved to Brownout one fire company per day until the end of 2008 at which point a cost/benefit analysis will occur. Depending on the results of this analysis, City Council will decide on whether to increase the Brownouts to two companies per day.

A Fire Company is defined as either an Engine or a Truck (no ambulances will be affected by Brownouts). The 2008 Brownout's will rotate amongst the City's "double Company firehouses", that is to say houses with an Engine and a Truck. These stations are numbered: 2, 5, 6, 7, 10, 16, 17, 20, and 30. If Brownouts are increased to two per day in 2009, all stations are subject to rotating closures.

The proposed budget cuts call for a 6% ($4.2million) cut which is to be accomplished by “browning out” 3 companies a day.

The SFD budget has never recovered from previous cuts.

The Department has the same level of resources it did 20 years ago even though the city population has grown by 40 percent and call volume has increased by 100 percent.

Sacramento’s fire death rate is double the state average and the city has about 40 percent more fires than similar sized cities.

• If this plan is enacted, response times will increase overall by at least a minute – which is a dangerously critical amount of time when a family member is suffering a heart attack or other life threatening event.

• Every fire station in the city will be subject to rotating closures – every ten days. During closures local neighborhood response times will be delayed significantly.

• And even when a local fire station isn’t closed, its crews may be forced to respond to emergency calls for a station that is---resulting in increased response times in the neighborhood.

The Sacramento Fire Department (SFD) budget has been chronically under-funded for many years.

As a result of high call volume, firefighters are stretched thin and work harder today than ever before.

SFD personnel have been doing more with less for decades. This is not the time to cut funding to the SFD. This is an issue about the safety of every firefighter and every citizen of Sacramento.

For more information, call Sacramento Area Fire Fighters Local 522 at (916) 739-8522

Tell City Council “Don’t Close our Firehouses!”.

Your firefighters need your help to convince City Council that we cannot afford any more budget cuts.

If you were unable to make it to the June Budget Cut meetings please call your City Council Representative or write them a letter expressing your disapproval of ANY cuts to the Fire Department Budget and send it to:

Office of the Mayor and City Council City Hall 915 "I" Street, Fifth Floor
Sacramento, CA. 95814

Main Number (916) 808-5407
FAX - all Councilmembers - (916) 264-7680

www.cityofsacramento.org

Mayor Heather Fargo
District 1, Ray Tretheway
District 2, Sandy Sheedy
District 3, Steve Cohn
District 4, Robert King Fong
District 5, Lauren Hammond
District 6, Kevin McCarty
District 7, Robbie Waters
District 8, Bonnie Pannell