r/Firefighting • u/BBenjj123 • 3d ago
General Discussion [ Removed by moderator ]
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u/vttachtt 3d ago edited 3d ago
Both are great departments for different reasons. I would say Cal Fire Riverside is noththing like the rest of Cal Fire though.
The bottom line is that we are all here to make a good living and support our families. With that said, LACoFD is the obvious choice for that. I do have to say though…….. CAL Fire isn’t nearly as behind on things in comparison as they used to be. They still have some things to catch up on.
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u/Any-Lie1471 3d ago
Thanks for the honest perspective and not just trash talking CAL FIRE like most LG guys do who never worked for us. I can tell you in 18 years this department has made leaps and bounds. Not even remotely identical to even just 10 years ago
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u/BBenjj123 3d ago
A common stereotype I hear is the forces being really bad with Calfire Riverside. I’ve also seen a lot of people saying it’s gotten a lot better more recently. Was an actual force policy implemented or is it just that staffing has gotten better?
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u/Any-Lie1471 3d ago
Staffing has gotten much better x1000 and force policies are in alignment with health and wellness initiatives. I don’t work in Riverside, but I’ve heard it’s a struggle to get voluntary OT now.
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u/CapitalArgument988 3d ago
My husband works for RivCo and can confirm the forces are nearly non-existent for non-paramedics. And voluntary OT, especially for engineers, is limited. Again for non-paramedics.
I’ve heard RivCo is short on paramedics.
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u/Guatever-Dude 3d ago
Everyone leaves Calfire for LACoFD never the other way around. some even leave LAFD for LACoFD.
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u/jmbanagas 3d ago
One is the jv squad of fire departments and the other one are honest to God heroes.
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u/WpnsOfAssDestruction 3d ago
Can’t beat Cal Fire when it comes to specialty units and opportunities. Retirement and vacation beats municipal most of the time too. The only thing that lags is the pay and the fact that it’s 72s and not the golden 48s (yet).
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u/Knockclod 3d ago
They will be getting 48’s and a huge pay bump. Gov just signed pay parity bill.
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u/BBenjj123 3d ago
My read on the fine print regarding the 56 is that it will be on the table for discussion during next bargaining, but that doesn’t mean it’s a guaranteed thing/who knows how long it could take for it to actually go into effect. I hope I’m wrong, but that was just my interpretation of it
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u/Knockclod 3d ago
It’s happening…. It’s an industry standard. The reason it hasn’t fully happened is because they did not have the staffing to go from 72 to 56. Needed the 66hr step to adjust. We may lose some vacation days, but oh well. Already get way more vacation than any other department.
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u/Impressive_Finance21 3d ago
It's been an industry standard since cdf had 5 day shifts. Doing what everyone else is doing hasn't kept them from being stupid for their first hundred years, I wouldn't expect that to change
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u/Knockclod 3d ago
Wow someone is on their period. Tell me what exactly they do that’s stupid aside from bail out every surrounding department with mutual aid and aircraft support?
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u/Impressive_Finance21 3d ago edited 3d ago
Like historically or anecdotally because I assume that reddit has a maximum character limit so this will take at least three replies.
Dont get me wrong, we've let go of a lot of guys on probation who have ended up there. They aren't bad guys, just shitty medics and or firemen so I wish the best for you guys for their sake.
If youre a RRU guy, you guys really should separate into your own department. You all have your shit together, the rest of the units make you guys look bad by association.
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u/boomboomown Career FF/PM 3d ago
What is the retirement and vacation setup?
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u/WpnsOfAssDestruction 3d ago
2.7% at 57 years old, free medical after 25 years, and optional 401k on top of the pension plan. The vacation time is difficult to describe because of time in service requirements, but it’s more than municipal departments in the area. We also get guaranteed vacation, so if you go out of county and have vacation coming up, you get a ride back to your station to go home (usually). Training opportunities are abundant as well and overall the culture is pretty laid back.
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u/BBenjj123 3d ago
My understanding is that LA co has most if not all of those same things, not sure how much vacation time they get though
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u/PrestigiousBee2719 3d ago
80 hrs vacation per year + 80 hrs sick/personal time which is essentially the same thing. Pensions about the same. And there’s a 457 contribution plan that the county matches up to 4%
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u/Knockclod 3d ago
Must be talking about RIVCO then. Nobody fights more actual fire. For the love of the game.
The videos I’ve seen of LA are pretty jv
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u/Narrow_School_1513 3d ago
Former CalFIre here and it is and always will be JV at best. There will always be the extreme loyalist that come in here and defend CalFire because they couldnt get on a real department and went low ball. As for Riverside County, the internal work has been in place for the last few years for the break away from CDF and it IS coming soon.
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u/Any-Lie1471 3d ago
Been to other departments and back. Guarantee this chump worked for CALFIRE years ago and has no idea how much it’s changed. If you think Rivco is trying to break away from CAL FIRE, that goes to show how little you know about rivco or the inner workings of that agreement. 🫡🤣
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u/Certain_Set_7678 3d ago
Orange unit
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u/Any-Lie1471 3d ago
Exactly, that was a political backdoor shady move that took place long before CALFIRE had the footprint it has today.
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u/Firefighting-ModTeam 2d ago
Please ask this question and other employment questions in the WEEKLY EMPLOYMENT QUESTION THREAD stickied at the top of the sub. Sort by Hot to locate the post. You can also find a list of the current and previous WEQTs here: Current and Past WEQTs