Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Close to Home — What it’s like on the street where you live
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
Paul, not really splitting hairs... just setting the story straight. Everyone wants to blame CDF, but it's a combination of factors and sometimes confusing rules. Remember that the Sheriff's helo had to fly from Ramona to Gillespie, hook up his bucket, find a water source and fly back. And the 600 that they fly can only carry around 75 gallons of water. Frankly, I don't think he would have made a difference. There are more Captains and Engineers because some of them are in staff positions. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any staff positions that Firefighters are in. Top heavy? Maybe, but several staffing studies have shown that the most effective number on a fire engine is five. SDFD carries four. Most agencies around here carry three, which is essentially useless at a working structure fire. In other words, there should be more indians, not less chiefs.— September 14, 2009 8:17 p.m.
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
Paul, Now let me address your second post. We absolutely understand the economics of our current times. Note that our local was the first to accept a contract from the mayor. That contract included a 6.3% cut in compensation. Overall, our compensation package is down around 10% over the past five years. The Firefighter, Fire Engineer and Fire Captain roles are fundamentally different. All have different jobs on both fire and medical calls. At a fire, one Firefighter is responsible for connecting a hose to the hydrant, while the other Firefighter drags a hose to the involved building. The Captain sizes up the situation, conducting a lap around the building to find potential hazards or access points and directs other fire companies. The Engineer is responsible for hooking up the various hoses and pumping the correct pressure and then is responsible for logistical support. Both firefighters together advance a hoseline into the structure, as they must work in pairs for safety reasons. Obviously, this is a dramatic oversimplification. If one of those people is not there do to their job, someone else must do it. That's why you see so many second alarm fires in more suburban areas. (Poway, El Cajon, Lakeside, Vista, etc.) They don't have the personnel to quickly supress fires. And response times are longer. Both of these allow the fire to grow (exponentially) so there is more damage.— September 14, 2009 9:42 a.m.
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
Paul, Let me start with your first post. You have several misconceptions. The Cedar Fire was not started by an illegal alien. It was started by a legal (though dumb) hunter. CDF is not responsible for aerial assaults on Forest Service lands. They are completely separate entities with similar, though slightly different, rules. One reason copters could not fly at night then was a lack of night vision gear. One reason for the lack of night vision gear is money. San Diego firefighters were not in LA, they were in San Bernardino. And they were here locally at Camp Pendleton trying to keep a fire there from pushing into Fallbrook. Obviously, that wasn't an issue when the winds changed, so the firefighters at Pendleton were immediately re-routed to San Diego County. It *is* clear that local assets would have helped. A report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology showed that most homes that had firefighting action taken on them in The Trails (RB) were saved. NIST concluded that parking a fire engine in every driveway makes a difference. A big difference. You're confusing day-to-day needs with the requirements of major fires. Several studies have shown that the SDFD is dramatically understaffed each and every day. Those extra assets would *also* provide additional coverage during a major fire.— September 14, 2009 9:04 a.m.
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
Ironic that while you guys were arguing about firefighters online, I was at the memorial for two brother firefighters from LA County. Johnny seems to feel that firefighters aren't worth it. The governor and vice president seem to side with me. I believe that Paul is posting the average for uniformed SDFD employees of the ranks listed. Meanwhile, the $56K listed by Don is for a Firefighter II. That FFII rate is also base, and does not include specialties such as Paramedic pay. Nice to see that someone besides me thinks Johnny is like a longhorn steer. A point here, a point there, a whole lot of bull in between. Going back a few posts, Don mentioned that the county needs to find a different way to fight fires. Actually, the county basically has no way to fight fires. There is no county fire department. The county must rely on the reflex time to bring city firefighters out into the county.— September 13, 2009 10:51 p.m.
No Trucks
92109, the DOT Emergency Response guidebook calls for a 1 mile radius for evacuation in the event of a fire involving compressed natural gas. Visduh, there have been several catastrophic accidents involving transportation of CNG or LP. There are many more truck accidents than train accidents every day. That doesn't mean that I don't think this operations is pretty darn safe. The likelihood of a major accident is very small. But it only takes one.— September 13, 2009 10:32 p.m.
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
Paul, Think that money would have been spent on new fire stations and firefighters? I don't. Not with the head in the sand mindset of this community. The city has made some major changes in the way it does business. Maybe not enough, but it is generally headed in the right direction. Witness the audits finally being completed. Meanwhile, the mayor has publicly acknowledged that SD needs many more fire stations, yet is willing to "brown out" neighborhoods to save a buck.— September 11, 2009 9:23 a.m.
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
A point on the SDG&E plan. Some of the organizations complaining the loudest about the plan are also the same organizations who preach that we should be prepared to be without services for 72 hours. Apparently, that preparedness does not extend to the point of them buying generators to run their own pumps, etc. Don, have you looked at the report that Bowman and Bruvold just released? Overall, it's pretty good. Of course, it was funded in part by SDG&E, so I have issues with that. The basic opening premise is that the City of San Diego was able to muster an "all hands on deck" response to the city's fiscal crisis; why not to the lack of firefighting resources? http://www.nusinstitute.org/assets/resources/page…— September 11, 2009 7:21 a.m.
Whistleblower Shipione Heads to Harvard
Johnny, it would appear that you're equating settling in a civil case with being guilty. I suppose you've never heard that defendants often settle because it costs less than the defense and potential greater loss? The city settling with Rachael Silva is by no means an indication of White's guilt.— June 24, 2009 6:51 p.m.
Whistleblower Shipione Heads to Harvard
JW, Go back and read "Under a Perfect Sun" by Mike Davis.— June 24, 2009 6:48 p.m.
Whistleblower Shipione Heads to Harvard
Gee Don, didn't you say a few months ago that there was a study showing that Harvard MBA's reduced the value of the businesses that employed them? Maybe the city is better off without her...— June 21, 2009 5 p.m.