ORANGE : Firefighters Film TV Spot Opposing Cuts

In an effort to gain public support, the Orange firefighters union has produced a series of television commercials warning of a weakened Fire Department if proposed city budget cuts are approved.

The 30-second commercials are scheduled on cable television over the next week. They mark an escalation in the ongoing feud among city employee unions over which departments should make the greatest sacrifices as Orange officials attempt to erase a $10.7-million budget shortfall.

The Fire Department could lose as many as 12 full-time positions under a budget plan submitted this month by City Manager Ron Thompson. The cuts are among the 80 positions that might be eliminated under the plan, which the City Council is now analyzing.

The ads--which cost the firefighters union $10,000--state that the cutbacks would reduce Fire Department staffing to 1973 levels. The department now has 128 positions. The proposed cuts could bring that number down to 116--a 13% drop from 1990, when the department had 133 positions.

Fire officials noted that since 1973, the city’s population has increased from 80,000 to 116,000. During the past 20 years, more than two dozen high-rise office towers were built in the city.

Reducing staffing levels further would make it difficult for the remaining firefighters to provide high-quality service, said Chuck Tuggle, fire union vice president.

“Not only does this put the citizens at risk, it puts ourselves as firefighters at risk,” he said. “As manning levels go down, injuries (for firefighters) go up.”

The goal of the commercials is to “educate the public about what the staffing levels are in the Fire Department,” he said.

The ads air as council members examine the 80 proposed position eliminations to determine how they would affect city services and whether they are in the city’s best long-term interest.

Some council members have expressed reservations about making cuts that would hurt emergency services like police and fire.

But the proposed cutbacks are only one part of the debate among the city employee unions. Another bone of contention centers on pay cuts.

Thompson has said that even more positions might be cut if police officers and firefighters refuse to accept a 4% pay cut and other city employees don’t agree to continue the Friday work furlough program.

Chris Carnes, president of the city’s professional, clerical and technical employees union, said that his members might be reluctant to continue to furlough unless police and fire officials take the pay cuts. Carnes complained that fire and police employees have been slow to accept such cuts.

“We feel like we are being nicked left and right and nobody else is contributing,” he said.

Orange Police Assn. officials said they are opposed to a pay cut, noting that Orange police officers are already among the lowest paid in the county.

“We are already at the bottom,” said Detective Jim Carson, association president. “The problem about being the lowest is that if we lose people, it’s more difficult to get the top people” to join the department.