This part will summarize the main points covered in the educational series, that effect you as a citizen in the Community of Patterson. If these topics interest you, please read the entire series to get all the facts on these topics.
While Paramedics are getting harder to recruit, the IAFF Local 4577 has offered creative solutions to the City of Patterson. These ideas have not been pursued by the city and recruitment of Paramedics has continued to be difficult. The people making the decision to ignore these potential solutions do not live in the City of Patterson and therefore do not rely on the ALS service the City of Patterson Fire Department provides.
The City of Patterson Fire Department has been short-staffed for over 3 years, creating a situation where firefighters, engineers, and captains must work many days in addition to their standard schedule. This means time away from their families to ensure the safety of the citizens of Patterson, but this sometimes comes at a huge personal cost with family issues, marital issues, and mental health suffering.
West Stanislaus Fire Protection District Separation from City of Patterson
The WSCFPD and the City of Patterson have an old, antiquated contract where they share the use of some of the Chief positions. The IAFF Local 4577 advocates that now is the perfect time to terminate this relationship. The Fire Chief has retired and a nationwide recruitment for his replacement is currently being done and WSCFPD is currently looking at paying less for the Chiefs so now is the perfect time to end this broken relationship.
With NIST recommending 17 firefighters for a low-risk working structure fire and the citizens of Patterson getting 7 firefighters, we need to look at ways to increase staffing for the safety of the citizens. The Patterson Volunteers did not respond any apparatus to the structure fires on 10/4/2023 & 10/7/2023 so relying on the staffing of the volunteers is no longer reliable enough to ensure the safety of the citizens.
The City of Patterson Fire Department relies on the surrounding departments for help on incidents such as working structure fires. We do not have a system to automatically dispatch these resources because the time has not been invested in creating accurate run cards.
Conversely, these departments and the citizens living within these areas could greatly benefit from the assistance of the Patterson Fire Department responding automatically. The areas include I-5, Diablo Grande, and rural Patterson.
If these topics interest you and you would like more information, please read the entire series here.
If you have read the educational series and want to support IAFF Local 4577 in these issues above:
- E-mail the City Manager
- Email the Mayor
- E-mail the Council Members
- Like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages – If we go to a council meeting we will post on these platforms and would love your support!
- If you live in Patterson, message us on Facebook to order a “Red Shirt” to show support
- Share our posts to this educational series
- Tell other Patterson residents about these issues
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