Lacey Fire » Blog

Tired of Police Funerals and Shootings.

Thursday, December 24, 2009 Posted in Incidents of Note

With the recent news of two Pierce County deputies being shot and then again another similar incident last night in Spokane County with less tragic results, it brings up a few questions that demand answers. “Why?” and “what to do about it?” should be asked of our elected officials.

In past posts on this Blog, we have been supportive of an expanded police officer staffing with emphasis on specialty capabilities (like SWAT) and protection from street level service reductions. Sgt. Dave Odegaard with the Thurston County Sheriff’s office recently discussed some of these reductions that have occurred the last few years and emphasized that officer safety is being threatened and along with the associated threat to public safety. How can officers protect the public when they are not given the proper tools to protect themselves? Even now, Sgt. Odegaard pointed out that in Thurston County, deputies frequently respond to domestic violence incidents solo because the resources and staffing are not there for adequate response. This is not acceptable to fire fighters and the public should hold the same position and make it clear to their elected politicians this expectation as well. Public safety in all forms matter and is a priority of local government.

Recently, some local police agencies have taken cuts or not replaced officers and then the politicians claim reductions in crime statistics in that their respective streets are much safer. They don’t recognize the fact that reduced officers mean less arrests, less prosecution, and eventually less reporting in crime. We need law enforcement and not score keeping. We need officers investigating and then following up on crime, and not purely first call or “call driven response” as the basis for police utilization.

It is our observation from a fire service prospective that our area is becoming more violent and that some of the situations that we are observing are part of trend that likely is not going away anytime soon. That at the same time politicians choose to reduce or hold steady police resources that the environment and demands of our community are not following this political edict. It is not chance that seven police officers have been shot in a period of three months but represents a symptom of real conditions on the street. Further, we need to understand that criminals/murderers like Monfort, Clemmons, and now Crable exist in our community and are waiting for their opportunity to kill police, citizens, fire fighters, or anyone who crosses their path at the wrong time.

This is another warning that we need to support our local police, demand from our politicians to fund and support law enforcement, demand that criminal justice system sentencing holes get plugged, and understand that doing nothing in the wake of these funerals and officer shootings is not an option.

For Greg.

Monday, December 14, 2009 Posted in Incidents of Note, Public Events

The fire service lost a great firefighter, leader, educator, and friend this weekend.

I first met Greg in some of our initial firefighter classes during Thurston County recruit academy in the fall of 1993. Being two of the youngest in the class, we had much more in common with each other than with most of the other firefighters who would become distracted with the problems old people have. (At that time, “old people” would have been thirty.) We eventually became roommates for several years but remained close with our old crew who eventually landed at departments in Lacey, Olympia, and Seattle. We found that most of the problems in the world, fire service, and relationships could be solved if we’d commit to the required amount of time and beer. Some of the problems required whiskey, but being the professionals that we were, we would do what was necessary. Anything for the service. If things couldn’t be solved in house, we would often retreat to snowboarding or lifting weights for a change of perspective. I got him out on the golf course once, but we both agreed bringing him there again wouldn’t help anyone.

Greg was the instructor my group had when we first visited Burn to Learn in North Bend. He was looking forward to getting to work with our team that day and assured us that we’d have a much better experience with him than with some of the other staff up there. As we were hauling pallets into our assigned room, we noticed that our room had significantly more than some of the others. We collectively decided that it shouldn’t be mentioned. He was eventually chastised for letting our room get too hot (melted some equipment) but didn’t apologize for the efforts. We could see he was taking the opportunity to teach our group personally and thought the experience was worth the reprimand. He wanted to make sure we both had the skills to take care of business when we were done and had fun while we were there. That’s just the kind of guy Greg was.

We had the opportunity to apply these skills some years later when we were living together in Tanglewilde. It was winter and I was trying to start a fire in the fireplace with wood that was both green and damp. Knowing that the normal newspaper/kindling combo wouldn’t do the trick, we decided that this situation called for an accelerant. We didn’t have any bbq fluid in the house so we had to use WD40 and some other flammable liquids I found in the garage. (If I shared here what we used, I would likely have FEMA agents at my door, and none of us want to go through that again.) We were keenly aware of the consequences of setting my house on fire in my response area and that we’d never hear the end of an ER visit. Since he outranked me we decided he’d be the safety officer and I’d have to do the lighting. After all, I was paying for the home insurance. So with Greg posed at my side with a large non-flammable blanket (safety first), I flung lit matches at the fuming mass of wood and paper products in the fireplace like a champion dart player. The incident action plan provided that should the vapor explosion spread to me, he would tackle me with the blanket and we would both “stop, drop, and roll”. The phone in the kitchen would serve as a backup plan if we had to call in help like normal people. Needless to say, we got the fire started and no one got hurt. Greg was well versed in incident management and this example only served to support the fact that proper planning will help you avoid most catastrophes.

We were all better for having known Greg. He and I took dozens of classes together over the years and had the kind of experiences on calls and in life that create that fundamental bond that never leaves. No matter how much time had passed since the last time we’d spoken, it only took a few minutes of catching up and it was like he was still sleeping in the room at the end of the hall.

I watched Greg grow from a Firefighter to Training Officer and then Assistant Chief. I was constantly trying to bring him over to Lacey Fire District #3 and thought I had succeeded when he took a trainee position with us. Knowing what he brought to the table, I was sure he would be successful with a career job soon after. Greg possessed all of the fire and ems skills and was one of those people who was really in the business to help people. He made our organization stronger and I was glad to have him on our team. Time would reveal to me that it was obvious his heart remained in South Bay. It was bitter sweet to see him leave my department, but I knew South Bay was where he was meant to be.

Greg was maybe the best example of a firefighter committed to his professional development. Whenever I had question about a class or book I knew I could ask him because he had probably taken it and it was likely that the book was already in his office. He accomplished more in the fifteen or so years he had in the service than most people will in their entire careers.
His greatest accomplishments would not end up on his resume because they are much bigger than any class, degree, or certification. He took the Training Officer role seriously and has no doubt left his mark on hundreds of young firefighters over the years. Greg’s South Bay Fire Department and many in our area are stronger because of his efforts. The men and women Greg helped teach and influence are now working at so many other departments and helping people all over the state. I count myself as one of them.

Thommy I’m sorry that I didn’t see the pain that you were experiencing. I will regret it for the rest of my life. I always looked forward to seeing you and knew that an invaluable resource was headed my direction when I would hear you on the radio. I knew that on any call there was nothing we couldn’t handle together. I wish you would have felt the same way during this last week with some of the issues you were dealing with. I wish you would have reached out and let some of us know. You would have had a hundred people knocking down doors to help you in a matter of seconds.
Most of us won’t be able to understand what made Greg feel like he had to make that final decision. What we can do is remember all that he gave us and how much he meant to all of us. That final decision will not be what defines Greg. He was bigger and better than that. Greg will be remembered for what he gave to his department, the fire service, and how he made us better for knowing him.
Greg Thompson was loved, he was respected, and he will be missed.
God bless you Thommy. Rest in peace brother.

Service and Trust

Thursday, December 10, 2009 Posted in City/District fight

In the 5th quarter debate of the Lakewood shooting, I am impressed at the phenomenal amount of finger pointing that is now deservedly occurring at all sorts of political camps and governmental agencies. Obviously, some of the criticism is deserved and the question now is really over their respective political salvation (such as Mike Huckabee and certain judges) and what will society really will do about solving criminal justice issues?
In the shadow of budget cuts, politicians looking for re-election, and simply blind luck that a Lakewood like massacre won’t occur in the respective incumbent’s hometown, the political spin machine in many cities and town is already working overtime. In Lacey and Thurston County, we ask where are the political priorities? What are the primary goals and priorities in the administration of our respective governments? And really (the $1000 question) is the politician’s goal the same as yours; “are you as the tax payer getting what you want?” We found in the last election that public safety (police and fire) was an absolute priority with voters.
In the wake of the council elections, outgoing mayor Graeme Sackrison talked in a city council meeting that he ‘didn’t know what the election results meant’. We knew having gone door to door through the city that our message was well received and it wasn’t like trying to ask for tax raise. The message we also heard was that it wasn’t just about the fire department issue, but that many voters had their own reasons for how they voted. With that said, anyone who believes that Pratt, Lawson, and Ryder are single-issue candidates is politically deaf as a post.
It is our belief that fire and EMS service in the county and the city of Lacey is very important but we also want to point out that especially in the wake of Lakewood’s loss that this should be Lacey’s call to arms. We believe that the police department should be better funded, allowed to function operationally independent of the city manager’s direction (that it is currently micromanaged), and that special operation capabilities in the police department should be added and not cut.
Many people don’t know that Lacey Police have open and unfilled positions where officers have left and have not been replaced, cut their Special Response Team (SRT) or SWAT team, drive worn out police cars, and at times have modified their schedules so that minimum staffing is three officers and a supervisor for the whole city! We disagree with all of these actions and others because we believe that there is a clear need to add to LPD’s capabilities and not go backward. The streets of Lacey are becoming tougher in our opinion, scenes are getting violent more frequently, and in the wake of Thurston County and Olympia’s future budget cuts, what is Lacey’s back up plan? The city won’t let officers take cars home so its not like you can recall off duty officers with any significant speed.
A political spin that was released to the police officers prior to the election was that the fire department budget was going to impact the police department. When we see multi-million dollar bike lanes under the freeway, rebuilt tree lined streets with negligible capacity improvements, a monstrous new city hall, and more…Then we think its more of an issue of decision makers with different priories especially by individuals who potentially have no clue or background in law enforcement. We also ask, do you the voters think it’s acceptable to cut the police department potentially in lieu of other non-public safety priorities? In the wake of potentially fire district annexation, what’s the city’s budget plan if you don’t have the fire district to blame?

A political lie that was disseminated prior to the elections was that a rift existed between the fire and police department…We can tell you that’s never been the case at least among the field units. We think public safety should be the city’s top priority; we have faith in January that this will finally be true.

We Will Remember the Lakewood Four.

Sunday, November 29, 2009 Posted in Public Events

As news filters out from Parkland that no less than four Lakewood Police Officer’s completing a shift were gunned down while they went over shift work in a coffee shop, it’s with heavy heart that we hear this news and also grieve. Its very tough for us to hear and watch the local law enforcement community receive word that some of their brothers and sisters are not coming home, just weeks after it happened in Seattle. Many Lakewood officers are former police officers from Lacey and surrounding jurisdictions with many Lakewood officers’ choosing Lacey Fire District response area as their respective homes.
We take this news very much as if we have lost one of our own brothers and sisters of the badge and are also feeling the sorrow, anger, and pain from today’s events and are not looking forward to the grief and tragedy of watching four families torn apart. There is no excuse or justification for what occurred today and we hope that justice is swift and sure.

We offer our condolences to the families of those effected especially those so close to home and offer our pledge to assist not only local police but our brothers and sisters with Central Pierce and Lakewood Fire Department who will be called on to assist law enforcement and their respective families today and for weeks to come. Let us know when, how, and where we can help. We will be there, like always.

It’s a Trap!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized

We know that in regards to the city district fight that nothing has changed and its all “window dressing” or a big charade to hide true intentions by a few key players. As much as we would like everything to be up front and straight forward when it comes to fire district/City of Lacey relationships we know the recent activity is both an act of self preservation by some and attempt by others to set the stage for a second round of political war.
During the most recent city council work session, the outgoing mayor/city councilmen Sackrsion invited Mr. Tom Dozal from the Lacey Citizen Advisory Council (the “CAC”) to give a prepared speech following a discussion on fire district annexation. Political speak aside, Sackrison unveiled his intentions to continue the fight against the fire district and the fire fighters by ensuring that the CAC and Dozal’s message was heard. Further, Sackrison’s intentions were clarified again to continue the fight at the last city council meeting where Dozal was quoted in the paper their intention to organize an effort to sink fire district annexation. The whole effort by Sackrison to dictate that if the annexation fails then the city must build their own fire department, as more or less a referendum is his efforts to fix the agenda even in his pending absence.

At the workshop in true classic Graeme politics, Graeme offered an impromptu response to anyone in the audience who had just heard Dozal’s prepared statements in the ‘interest of fairness’. The response from the fire fighters both in the this BLOG statement and city council workshop was the following: We have an interest in ending political fighting, we have an interest in ensuring a non-political vote on fire district annexation, we think the citizen’s advisory commission is illegal and illegitimate, and the city’s report on forming its own fire department (the ICMA report) is grossly and dangerously flawed.
The Olympian editorial board recently has identified and requested that it’s in the best interest of all parties most notably the public interest that the political fight needs to end. Again, we’re all for it. We’ll call it now though that Graeme and those who he appointed to the CAC are clearly not going to stop the political fight and will do everything in their power behind the scenes and in campaigns to poison the efforts for annexation. Now, it’s no longer about control for Graeme and his cabal, but it’s about revenge.

You wanna know our game plan? It’s going to be about being truthful, proving our points through research and accurate defendable facts, and informing in an ethical and straightforward fashion. We remain confident that voters, whether living in the county or city, will see beyond hidden agendas and propaganda. Like in November, the rules won’t change in April, and groups (unions and PAC’s) don’t vote, people vote.

Who is the CAC?

Sunday, November 8, 2009 Posted in City/District fight, Elections 2009

For many Lacey resident’s the first time they ever heard of the City of Lacey Citizen Advisory Committee (or CAC) was when Mayor Sackrison added a report to the agenda from this group just minutes into the October 22, 2009 City Council Meeting. There was some earlier mention of the CAC in John Darby’s Olympian position article (mid-October) where he said he would withhold opinion on the fire department issue until he had a chance to hear a report from the CAC. We also heard about it briefly in a debate that was attended by some residents just a few weeks earlier.

But who or what is the CAC? It wasn’t exactly advertised including being brought up in a city council meeting, posted somewhere at city hall, put in the newspaper, or published anywhere in the mounds of articles and various press regarding the elections. Instead, we started hearing rumors about it from a variety of sources and when we asked official channels even with the City of Lacey we were rebuffed. Even some of the challenger candidates went to Lacey City Hall in advance of the October 22, 2009 meeting and were denied any records until one of the candidates asked through formal application (along the lines of Freedom of Information Act, type application) and received finally a sterile list of names from the Assistant City Manager, Scott Spence. Of course this was provided after the CAC was able to provide their report to the city council.

Outgoing Mayor and councilperson Graeme Sackrison described the CAC as “broadly based cross-section” of citizens. Even though this group had been meeting for “several months” we are not aware of one attempt or event in which the CAC met, looked at, inspected, or reviewed anything having to do with Lacey Fire District. In fact, to our knowledge, all of the knowledge the CAC received is sole source from the City of Lacey. It’s even remarkable when we asked members of the CAC if they were on the committee, even months ago, they denied it. And at the meeting on the 22nd, we became aware that the City of Lacey Citizen Advisory Committee had minutes for several meetings, but again an active attempt by even the city manager himself to prevent bystanders from looking at a copy of the minutes was witnessed minutes before the October 22nd council meeting.

When we got the final list of who was on the CAC, we pieced together that 36 people were on the committee yet per the report by the representative for the CAC, Mr. Tom Dozal identified only 20 members present. Yet 20 out of 36 present for the last meeting represents evidently a “unanimous” decision per the CAC report.

What was disheartening and began to explain why the existence of the CAC was kept so confidential was perhaps who was on it. The committee by our count consisted of 16 Lacey residents with half of those residents coming from the Jubilee neighborhood. Remarkable, that perhaps only a few actual Lacey residents or actual consumers of the Fire District Service may have been at the last meeting, we don’t know. The rest of the members on the CAC in many cases had pre-existing and public relationships with Mayor Sackrison and City Manager Cuoio, and perhaps others and it became clear in our opinion that intent was very likely not to be objective but to produce a substitute for “public hearing” or even “public opinion” by simply validating an existing viewpoint.

Specific groups included former fire department employees who had been laid off or terminated and since the department’s report we have been notified by one CAC member that his co-committee member ‘is just looking for a job’ through the creation of city fire department. Further other members of the CAC have even been known political supporters, assisted with incumbent candidate signs, took down challenger signs, and have potentially used their own influence in groups such as the Lacey Chamber of Commerce. Some were known to have written pro-city council letters to the Olympian Editorial Board. Other members on the CAC were also past or current appointees by the city council to other political positions in the city and there was even a former Lacey City Council Member on the group who I am sure didn’t have any past political allegiances to her past fellow council members or even endorsements. There were more people on the CAC associated with the building industry than there were non-Jubilee city residents! In some observer opinions, the builder’s membership perhaps speaks volumes about political priorities with certain Lacey city council members.

So if you hear anyone even suggest that the Citizen Advisory Committee is a representation of existing city of Lacey public opinion, you have every right to question the authenticity of the quality and accuracy of a decision, check that, a puppet validation of the city council’s action. You could also just look at the election results if you need a real public opinion and come to the conclusion that perhaps that the elections were more about transparency, openness, and political priorities than the fire department dispute.

We understand who our boss is.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 Posted in City/District fight, Elections 2009

If you haven’t heard, the three challengers to the Lacey City council, including Ron Lawson, Cynthia Pratt, and Andy Ryder, all won their elections. Its fairly rare that three incumbents including the mayor*, deputy mayor, and the senior most member of city council are voted out…Not squeaked by, or a questionable loss, but clearly voted out by margins approaching 10%. In the case of city council position #4, an incumbent loss by almost 20% is in political terms, amazing.

Indeed, Lacey fire fighters worked very hard to help the winners and undoubtedly have learned a whole new set of skills that will be honed and prepared for future elections. And there is celebration that Lacey City Council members who delighted in throwing our department and fire fighters under the bus at every possible turn are now beating us to the unemployment line. However, as a dreaded “union”, we can’t take all the credit.

You see, groups don’t vote, people vote, and it became very clear to us that political soil of Lacey was fertile ground for change. We were able to physically touch every door in the city, call every registered voter, and make every debate or community meeting that wasn’t kept secret. And as much as we would like to say we changed opinions, we found that more often than not, citizens were going to vote for the challengers anyway. Only rarely did we have to debate or discuss the issues, but most of the voters we found all had their own reasons in addition to the fire department slander campaign, to vote for the challengers. It was very apparent that the efforts of the fire fighters had a significant impact, but it was far from an uphill battle; the citizens of Lacey are more than just annoyed at what’s going on in their city.

Themes that the citizens told us about were concerns included the apparent lack of city council transparency, the concerns about special interest control, cronyism, and the general concern that honesty and integrity in certain elected officials was in question before the elections ever took place. It is our honest belief that if the citizen’s of Lacey are not satisfied or observe some sort of change in how business is done in Lacey City Hall, then its clear that this political blood letting that occurred on November 3, is simply a warm up. And we say that out of sincerity because we’re getting the message too. You will see all sorts of change in the fire district regardless of the city’s plans, that in the future leave as little doubt as possible that the fire fighters absolutely are doing their best job for the citizens. We get it! Our boss is the citizen, and that’s the way it is and the way it always will be.

When you hear outgoing mayor Graeme Sackrison say, “I think primarily it’s a message that the firefighters union is a powerful organization with a lot of time and energy to campaign.” Then we’re saying he doesn’t get it. Voters in his city got to see everything he did right, everything he did wrong, and had access to both positive and negative election information. The citizens made a decision, not the union, that Sackrison, Darby, and Burgman no longer represent them. I sincerely hope the other city council incumbents are listening.

Congratulations to Ron Lawson, Cynthia Pratt, and Andy Ryder for all of their hard work, their family’s efforts, and the phenomenal outpouring of community support. We hope you do the community proud and work hard to support public safety, small business, and progressive and responsible growth.

* Lacey doesn’t elect a mayor; the city council appoints council members to the position of mayor and deputy mayor.

Cust Cutting Cities End Cooperation.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Posted in City/District fight, Elections 2009

In Southeast Washington, the City of Clarkston is starting its own ambulance service but appears to be under staffing its response. As a result, surrounding areas have been getting beat up and/or no longer interested in maintaining a “Mutual Aid” agreement with the City of Clarkston. This story sounds familiar already… I guess some people understand the need to reduce bureaucracy and improve efficiency, and yet others just see it as an opportunity to collect power.

Lewiston ends mutual aid contract
Clarkson, WA rethinking its mutual aid service
Mutual Aid Agreements End in Clarkson,WA.

City of Edmonds to End Its Fire Department

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Posted in City/District fight, Elections 2009

A hallmark of City of Lacey fire department comparisons is throwing in the towel on its own fire department. Citing increasing costs of providing fire service and the fact that other surrounding cities such as Mountlake Terrace saved money by allowing county fire agencies to provide the service, the city of Edmonds will likely do the same. In the case of Edmonds, they would immediately save a million dollars a year and improve service by having Snohomish County Fire District One provide fire and EMS protection.

Go HERE for more.

And the “Graemey” goes to…

Saturday, October 24, 2009 Posted in City/District fight, Elections 2009

For those of you who didn’t tune into channel 3 last night, the Lacey Mayor added to the agenda, just hours before the meeting, critical items that quite clearly had been planned for weeks. This determined lack of respect for the process of involving the community in important decisions for the city is demonstrative of his style of control—this could not be called leadership—of the city.

After canceling the last city council meeting (10/8), Graeme added to his mayoral report the item of his monologue on the fire district/city relationship and then a second report item on a Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) regarding fire and EMS (emergency medical services). What Graeme presented was a series of slides, depicting a very clearly one sided and even at times inaccurate picture about the performance of the fire district. He even went on and further presented two contrasting positions regarding a city proposal and a fire district proposal for a new joint service contract. Some people who are privy to these documents (remember, they’re not public) have opined that the city, or in this case Graeme Sackrison, was never intent on making it work. In the city’s request, they asked the fire district to clearly take on more work, reduce perimeter/district service, and more importantly, wanted political control of the operations. Considering the degree of funding and the matter of control, it draws serious question if the contract thing was really ever meant to work or simply a drama act to help sell the position to the council. An “I tried” argument or referred to last night as “due diligence”.

What’s telling about last night is two key issues: the matter of control, and the degree in which certain council members will go to keep power. The issue of control is that the city is demanding control of the fire department but at the same time has refused to consider to jointly manage fire protection in such a way the city and district residents would have equal say and control. The only difference between a “regional fire authority” approach (what dozen of fire departments are doing in the state now) and the city’s approach/request is that the city council would not have direct say but city elected representatives would. What Graeme wants the fire district to do is have a junior taxing district/county fire department sign over their authority. This is at least a horrible dereliction of duty and potentially an illegal act for a fire district elected commissioner to do. Would a city council sign over all control to its city manager? That might be a bad example in Lacey, but you get the point.

The other issue was the matter of the “Citizen Advisory Commission” which is being used as a substitute for public hearing and input. For weeks, people have been calling city hall regarding the CAC, and not even getting the service of a return phone call, simply wanting answers to “how is the CAC picked”, “when was the group selected”, “when were the applications posted”, “what information was made available to the CAC”, and even who was named to the CAC. All of which are and should be matters of public record but clearly are not in open violation of the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA).

On Wednesday night, the CAC met with Sackrison and they received his version of events and on Thursday night they agreed unanimously with Mr. Sackrison. There were minutes of this meeting with the city, but they are being actively kept confidential. Good thing we got to see them.

A review of the CAC membership revealed that the “cross section” of the community that Graeme described were in nearly every example a friend or a business relationship of the Graeme himself. Including public supporters, friends, dependant business partners, and those who have a pre-existing axe to grind with the fire department. The CAC was chosen to provide a specific rubber stamp and would have reached the conclusion every time especially considering the story they received. This group would have found OJ innocent a 100 times as long as Graeme was directing.

It’s beyond disappointing on how power will protect power and how honesty and integrity very clearly is not a consideration for some at city hall. The questions of fairness, equality, and personal agenda are far bigger concerns than the functions of fire service in Lacey, and without a doubt are becoming more apparent to more people every day.

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Winston Churchill

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Lord Acton

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