The Riverside County Volunteer Firefighters Association exists to serve its member companies and to foster a cooperative working relationship with the Riverside County Fire Dept/Cal Fire. We have pledged to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Cal Fire brothers and sisters and to support the Chief of this department, Chief John Hawkins in his vision of “one fire department.” Through this cooperation the RCVFA has been deeply involved in several important projects over the past few years. When we heard concerns from the field about the level of volunteer training the VFA initiated what has grown into the current volunteer academy program. This is a highly successful cooperative effort that is producing the finest trained volunteer fire fighters in the history of our program. We have continually worked with responsible Cal Fire leaders in developing standardized training plans and volunteer academies that provide hundreds of hours of training for new volunteers as well as a career track that many of our volunteers have followed to career positions.
To improve the caliber of volunteer firefighters the VFA initiated extensive background checks, formal documentation procedures and began working with volunteer companies to assist them with managing their day to day businesses. When a case of possible wrongdoing or mismanagement is identified with a VFC, the VFA does not hesitate to contact the appropriate persons to have it addressed. We have also advocated an extensive review and modification of the Volunteer Operating Policy; however, we seek to develop a policy that will strengthen the program to meet today’s needs, not eradicate it.
The members of the VFA board have no hidden agenda. We exist to protect the rights of volunteers and to strengthen our department as a whole. No compensation of any kind is asked or given. The hours the board donates are taken from our careers, families, friends and time we could be serving our communities at our stations. There are no time banks and no paid vacations or golf course meetings.
Despite all of this, once again the Volunteer Firefighters in Riverside County are under attack by leaders of the local CDF Firefighters Union board. Most recently we have been referred to as Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves by Deputy Director Steve Slagle. In a misleading and deceitful article he refers to the volunteer firefighter program as “severely broken” and suggests that Volunteers have no business in this county.
Most disturbing are the blatant lies stated in the article implying that the RCVFA board initiated contact with the Grand Jury of Riverside with the purpose of eliminating Cal Fire career positions in favor of volunteer replacements. This is completely and categorically false. Once again we state for the record, that at no time did the Chairman of the VFA or the Association board initiate contact with the Grand Jury. This course of action has never been discussed in any meeting either formally or informally. This board does not support the reduction of any public safety personnel whether career or volunteer. These are not empty words as the VFA board members in the past publicly testified in strong support of increasing staffing levels initially from one person to two person engines and then again from two persons to three. The current Board has publicly stated in multiple public forums that we do not support ANY cuts to first responders.
Our Chairman has made multiple attempts to discuss these accusations with a number of union board members and has been ignored. Instead, the CDF Union board has chosen to “take the low road” by attempting to increase tensions at the firehouse level between career and volunteer personnel. Much to the credit of the intelligence and maturity of the union membership the vast majority sees through their continued deception and they have chosen to continue to work professionally with all of their brothers and sisters in the fire service.
Sadly, it seems that for some unknown reason a few mean spirited people are trying very hard to make the Volunteer Firefighters of Riverside County out to be scapegoats for the downturn of the economy. As if by simply eliminating the long standing ability of trained and dedicated citizens from being able to participate in protecting our communities - that suddenly all the budget problems would simply vanish. This is simply not so. They are doing this by spreading distorted opinions, half-truths and in some cases outright lies. In his recent article Mr. Slagle has taken a jab at every honest, hard working, citizen volunteer in our county and as mentioned refers to us as “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves,“ leaving no room for doubt about how the union leadership feels about the dedicated professionals that donate their personal time to improve the communities they live in. The reality is that there are a few angry hard liners who have an axe to grind and want to jeopardize our cost effective and cooperative program. We refuse to allow small minded people filled with hate and discrimination to create a hostile working environment in our stations. We have and will continue to work as a team!
If any member of our Volunteer Association, Cal Fire personnel or Union board member would like to discuss these false accusations with our Volunteer Association Board please feel free to contact us at any time. Send us an email at info@volunteerfire.net and we will either call you or arrange to meet you in person. You may also contact any of our board members with the information listed below.
Keep up the good work and be safe.
Angel Sanchez, Jr.
Chairman – RCVFA
angel@volunteerfire.net
Tom Ketcham
Vice Chairman – RCVFA
tom@volunteerfire.net
John Pellegrin
President – RCVFA West
john@volunteerfire.net
Jerry Hagen
President – RCVFA Central
jerry@volunteerfire.net
Les Vacarello
President – RCVFA East
les@volunteerfire.net
Bruce Connole
Treasurer – RCVFA
bruce@volunteerfire.net
Nick Kelly
Secretary - RCVFA
nick@volunteerfire.net
