Saturday, August 31, 2013

UDPATED: MFPD mourns alongside one of its firefighters

UDPATED: MFPD mourns alongside one of its firefighters:

'via Blog this'

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Webster Groves

Webster Groves, Missouri Fire Fighters Win Back Defined Benefit Plan

August 26, 2013 – It took dedication and a lot of hard work, but Webster Groves, Missouri, fire fighters convinced the City Council to switch all city employees back to a defined benefit retirement plan.

This local pension victory comes as elected officials in many states and municipalities are trying to ditch defined benefit plans in favor of weaker retirement options such as 401(k)s and cash balance plans.

By unanimous vote, the city council approved a resolution to discontinue the defined contribution plan that it has had for 15 years through the International City Management Association (ICMA) and replace it with a defined benefit plan.

Webster Groves fire fighters are represented by the Professional Fire Fighters of Missouri Local 2665.

“This is a tremendous victory for our members there,” says Local 2665 4th District Vice President Kurt Becker. “They were experiencing a lot of turnover because fire fighters were taking jobs in other departments with better pensions. Now, with the promise of a more financially stable retirement, experienced fire fighters will remain in Webster Groves.”

In 1998, ICMA pitched the defined contribution plan to the City of Webster Groves. Despite already having a healthy defined benefit plan in place, the City decided to make the switch anyway.

“This move was especially bad for fire fighters because we do not pay into social security,” explains Webster Groves Shop Steward Jason Simpson. “It is nearly impossible to secure enough money for retirement with a 401(K)-style plan. As a result, we had way too many guys getting stuck working past a safe age because they did not believe they could afford to retire.”

A few years ago the Local 2665 leadership began working with the Webster Groves fire fighters to devise a way to go back to a defined benefit plan. The strategy included helping to elect fire fighter friendly city council members and community outreach.

Then, many cities across Missouri began adopting defined benefit plans through the Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System (LAGERS) [http://www.molagers.org/], a state government-created provider of retirement, disability and survivor benefits.

The Webster Groves fire fighters put in a formal request with the City Council to ask LAGERS to do a financial and actuarial analysis which was approved without argument. The analysis compared the cost of the current plan versus the cost of the two plans LAGERS offers.

The analysis concluded that the City could switch to the LAGERS L-6 plan with little change to the budget. The L-6 plan requires both the City and its employees to contribute into the plan and gives a 2 percent multiplier for each year of service for those vested into the plan.

After the city employees and the City Council approved the change, all current employees will now get credit for years of service.
Meanwhile, the fire fighters and the rest of the City employees are in the process of upgrading to the L-11 plan which has a 2.5 percent multiplier. But because that would cost more money, they must get voter approval to increase the pension tax to fund the upgrade. The tax issue is expected to be on the November ballot.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

City ambulance destroyed after catching fire at St. Mary's

RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Mo. (KSDK) - A St. Louis City ambulance burst into flames outside the emergency room at SSM St. Mary's Health Center Sunday morning.

Just after 9 a.m. an ambulance dropped a patient off at the hospital, but when the driver came back outside the ambulance was on fire.

The Richmond Heights Fire department quickly put the fire out.

Investigators aren't sure what caused the fire, but it appears to have started in the engine. The front of the ambulance was destroyed and all of the medical supplies inside have smoke damage.

No one was injured.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Obituary

George F. Hohmann Sr.

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Hohmann, George F., Sr. fortified with the Sacraments of Holy Mother Church, Saturday, August 10, 2013. Husband of the late Nancy J. (nee Davis); father of Marie (Donald) Ferguson, George Jr. (Lisa), Matthew (Annette) Hohmann and Maura (Matthew) Haack; cherished grandfather of Andrew A.J, Tyler, Justine, Courtney, Elizabeth, Abigail, Ian, Barrett, Conner, Sean and Margaret Maggie; our dear brother, brother-in-law, uncle, great-uncle, cousin and friend to many. Services: Funeral from KUTIS AFFTON Chapel, 10151 Gravois, Wednesday, August 14, 9:15 a.m. to Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic Church for 10 a.m. Mass. Interment Resurrection Cemetery. Donations to Parkinson Disease Assoc. appreciated. Visitation Tuesday, 3-8 p.m.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Cancer in the fire service

From: The Secret List - FirefighterCloseCalls.com[mailto:thesecretlist@firefighterclosecalls.ccsend.com] On Behalf Of The Secret List -FirefighterCloseCalls.com

Sent: Friday, August 09, 2013 8:50 PM
To: chief330@swbell.net
Subject: The New Reality: 1 in 3 Firefighters (The Secret List)

Hey,

Whatever you do-please pass on the below document (at least page 15) or just forward this TSL to every Firefighter or Firefighter e-group you know. Please.

In most cases. fortunately, most Firefighters do not personally know a Firefighter who has died in the line of duty. Unfortunately, however, in most cases, nearly every Firefighter knows a Firefighter that has-or has had cancer. It's in every firehouse and/or department. 1 in 3 Firefighters will be diagnosed with some form of cancer. It's a big deal.

The FCSN white paper "Taking Action Against Cancer in the Fire Service" was released today. You are going to hear a lot about this document-take a moment to download it and read it.. If nothing else, check out PAGE 15 of the document.

Here's the document link:

http://www.firefightercancersupport.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Taking-Action-against-Cancer-in-the-Fire-Service.pdf

The intention of the paper is to discuss what we currently know regarding firefighting cancer, and it pinpoints the various items that we need to learn more about. Below is a video well worth checking out-notice the video is not a bunch of old Firefighters...it's young and middle aged ones. That in itself is sobering.

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUqm9DMdISI

Previous Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iftbui2dpL4

FD Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7_nJDErpPg (Palm Beach County FF's)

FD Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKmhIB2lO3o (Toronto FF's)

FD Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9T0ouDF728 (Houston FF's)

FD Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Is5EUZ2FE (Long Island FF's)

FIREFIGHTER CANCER SUPPORT LINK: www.FireFighterCancerSupport.com

Take Care. Be Careful. Pass It On.

BillyG

The Secret List 8-9-13 / 1810 Hours

www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SECRET LIST: http://www.firefighterclosecalls.com/secret.php
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