L.A. Fire Officials Battle Riordan’s Plan to Cut Aides : Budget: Department leaders say the 57 assistants, who are firefighters, are crucial in emergencies. Mayor has called them ‘chauffeurs.’

Mayor Richard Riordan’s proposal to eliminate 57 staff assistants--part of a package to trim about $8 million from the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget--has touched a nerve in a department already shaken by controversy.

Although their jobs are little understood by the public, the assistants are trained firefighters who serve as personal aides to the department’s battalion chiefs and deputy chiefs. They perform a variety of tasks, from reviewing paperwork to driving the chiefs to emergency scenes to assisting in drafting battle plans for fighting fires.

The position, considered a plum assignment, has been a promotional springboard for a number of minority firefighters. In the last three years, according to department data, six African American and 12 Latino staff assistants have been promoted to captains.

In releasing his 1995-96 budget last week, Riordan dismissed the department’s 57 staff assistants as “chauffeurs” and proposed saving nearly $6 million by replacing them with less expensive civilian employees.

But doing so, fire officials contend, would drastically impair their emergency response. The loss of the assistants would further drain a department already reduced by 15% since 1978, while the city’s population has grown dramatically, they say.

In fact, in his letter to the department explaining his resignation Tuesday, Fire Chief Donald O. Manning referred to Riordan’s proposed elimination of the assistants.

“We now have the mayor’s proposed budget, which has serious public safety and firefighter safety issues contained within its proposals,” Manning wrote. “I believe the removal of staff assistants is a clear abandonment of firefighter safety.”

The Riordan Administration cites the fact that other fire departments have eliminated similar positions as evidence that Los Angeles can do the same. But the results have not always been positive, officials say.

Los Angeles County Fire Department battalion chiefs, for example, say they have had to scramble to find firefighters to drive them to major emergencies and set up command posts.

“We’ve learned to live without them, but the bottom line is it’s unsafe,” said county Battalion Chief James Dixon. “When you start talking fire ground tactics and strategy, an aide is invaluable.”

Before the advent of radio communications, it was the responsibility of the chiefs’ drivers, after arriving at a scene, to find the nearest fire alarm box--which was outfitted with a telegraph--and transmit information to dispatchers.

Today, fire ground tactics and strategy are far more complex. It is during such scenes, fire commanders say, that staff assistants perform their most vital roles.

Within the first five minutes of a one-room high-rise blaze, for instance, a battalion chief is responsible for monitoring radio traffic on three frequencies, setting up a mobile command post at the scene, assessing fire damage and deciding how to best position the 15 different fire companies that initially respond to such incidents. The staff assistant’s primary role is to help monitor the radio traffic and keep track of the fire units and their crews.

“I’ve been to some big fires and without (my assistant) I would have been overwhelmed,” said Rick Garcia, a Los Angeles City Fire Department battalion chief.

But the Riordan Administration says emergency activities involve only 9% of a staff assistant’s daily routine. Nearly half of their 24-hour shift, according to a study conducted for the mayor by a private firm, is spent sorting mail, typing reports and distributing supplies to firehouses.

“A civilian is perfectly capable of doing that,” Deputy Mayor Michael Keeley said.

To make up for the loss of the staff assistants, Keeley said, the mayor’s budget proposes adding three firefighters and three clerical workers to the department.

The mayor’s report found that other fire departments have been able to operate effectively without staff assistants, Keeley said. The study, conducted by David M. Griffith & Associates, suggests using firefighters already at a scene or dispatching a second battalion chief to help handle emergencies.

But fire officials in Los Angeles and in other cities say there are inherent problems with both suggestions.

A second battalion chief may be unable to respond promptly because he could be at a station far from the incident or supervising an emergency in his area, they say. And relying on firefighters at the scene eliminates the opportunity for important planning that occurs inside a car as a chief and his aide respond to emergencies.