1. Safety as it pertains to fatigue and part time work. Ed Eckert states that firemen are limited to working 20 hours weekly because of safety concerns. So what if I chose to stay up really late one night or what if I decided to work out really hard and then do lots of chores around my home. Is the city going to prescribe me a bedtime and a restriction on work duties while at home?


What the citizens should be concerned about is the way they are being duped into thinking that they are unsafe because of our off-duty activities when in actuality, the safety director is putting citizens and employees of the city directly in harms way through the current working conditions. CEMS personnel are quite often mandated to work extra shifts. I good example is someone that works out of Station 33, Dan Edwards. He does his job well and is very competent but has been set up to fail by the safety department. He is mandated to work 30 out of 36 hours on a regular basis. He works 12 hours and sometime in the middle of his shift gets notified that he has been mandated to work an additional 6 hours for a total of 18 straight hours. He then is often held over on another run and can expect an additional 30-45 minutes of work. Then he is released for 6 hours. In that time he is expected to eat, conduct personal hygiene, contend with any personal or family concerns and sleep. He also will commute to and from the station. At best we can expect maybe 3 to 4 hours of rest at absolute best. He then returns to the station for another 12 hours of work. During that time he will respond to critically ill or injured patients with their heath and well being in his hands. So while he is exhausted he is expected to drive a 10 ton vehicle on some of America's worst streets at a faster rate of speed than average traffic. Studies have proven that it is as dangerous to drive while fatigued as it is impaired. Oh, don't forget, this is the guy who may be decided what drug and what dose or what interpretation and intervention is necessary during the most critical moments of the "Golden Hour."


Did you know that CEMS is most proud of disciplining its' employees. Look into the statistics within that department and you will see how many and how often they suspend an employee. The funny part of that equation is CEMS workers actually look forward to getting suspended!!! They are required to work so much overtime and have such horrible working conditions that they actually benefit from losing time! I am friends with many CEMS employees and they actually joke about how they wish they could get a suspension so they can have some reprieve from work. What kind of system is that? Sounds more dangerous than a man trying to provide for his family by working a second job. Hell, if I could double dip the way the safety director, the special assistant to the mayor, the assistant safety director and all those who have been running the safety forces into the ground then I wouldn't need to work a second job.


The part-time work issue has absolutely nothing to do with safety and everything to do with the loathing of the Cleveland Fire Department by the safety department management. The DOJ and the Ohio Attorney General have informed Mayor Jackson and the citizens that the city is being run improperly. Instead of taking corrective action, the city has chosen to turn a blind eye to the sources of the problems and attack the low hanging fruit by going after employees who have no way of making sweeping changes to any department. If the city is ever to "Clean House" they need to get a bigger broom. After the 2012 shooting incident the city has chosen to throw Michael Brelo to the wolves as a sacrificial lamb. And then they played a shell game and moved all of the exact same players into different positions and told the DOJ and the OAJ to stuff it. What a joke!


I also would like to point out that CEMS hasn't had a director since Ed Eckert was promoted. They did name Nicole Oliver (AKA Nicole Carlton) to "Acting Director" but that was years ago. Why has the city not named an official director as of yet. Nicole was convicted of felony check fraud and had some issues with renewing her paramedic license. I would think that would be a major concern for safety consideration knowing that someone with that type of judgement would be leading a department of Emergency Medical Services.






2. Deplorable working environment and vehicle fleet of the Cleveland Fire Department. This is a danger to the members of the department as well as the citizens of the city. Last year alone we had two separate fire trucks loose their fuel tanks while responding to emergency calls. Our fleet is in such disrepair that is an absolute miracle that we haven't been killed or killed a civilian on the streets. Parts are literally falling off some of our vehicles while we navigate the monster potholes up and down these Cleveland streets.


The firehouses are complete garbage and have gone decades without proper maintenance. City council took a tour in 2011 and stated that they were deplorable and that the city must act now! Then the cameras went away and so did any care that they showed for the camera. I was stationed at 22 for more than a decade. The HVAC system was so poor that we paid for our own A/C units and installed them in the boarded up windows in the summer. During the winter we ran space heaters all over the station while we preached to citizens that space heaters could be very dangerous. The roof leaks as much today as it did in 2002 when I arrived there. It leaked so much that the plaster ceiling would fall in large chunks on the apparatus floor. Like clockwork, the city would send their crew to repair the ceiling every spring but never once addressed the leaking roof. We went years with a turn-out washing machine sitting uninstalled in it's crate. We were not allowed to install it ourselves and were constantly being reminded that the carcinogens in our turnouts would likely kill us one day if we didn't utilize the machine but still it sat and we were forbidden to install it.


During heavy rains the sewer system backs up and spills raw sewage from the sinks and toilets onto the floor. The number of times we've gone through gallons of bleach at a time isn't something I counted but I assure you it was far too often. Bleach and feces is not a pleasant smell for working conditions but I am lucky. The disgraced Chief McGinnis immediately closed our company (Rescue 3) once he was named Chief of the Division and I was moved to Station 20. For 18 months we resided at a station that had no exhaust mitigation system even while the newly appointed Chief Kelly sent us notices that diesel fuel exhaust was a known carcinogen and cause for prostate, lung and bladder cancer. It was only after I asked for my 18 month tenure and exposure to the known carcinogen to be recognized and documented that we were moved to avoid any culpability by the city.


I would be happy to talk about any of these issues and how they personally affect me and the citizens I serve (from my perspective of course). While I do work part-time to provide for my family, I have never jeopardized one member of this department or a citizen. The City of Cleveland cannot make the same statement. I would hope that you can research some of my statements and visit the stations to see just how poor the conditions are. I also implore you look at the discipline records within CEMS.


When Chief McGinnis threatened bodily harm to members of the department, I spoke up and said I was uncomfortable working in that environment especially since my next duty day was to be at Station 4 where Chief McGinnis was scheduled to appear for the morning reading event. I was required to strike off duty. Marty Flask (Safety Director at that time) "applauded and lauded" the words of the Chief and then in retaliation, would not allow me to return to work until I had a mental health evaluation stating that I was stable to return to duty! So the City of Cleveland will allow you to make threats of bodily harm but will not allow you to remove yourself from that environment without retribution. Making an appointment with a mental health caregiver does not happen overnight and I was required to utilize 7 weeks of my own time. My request for replenishment of that time was summarily dismissed by the current Chief of the Division. I do expect similar action from the city in the near future.


I would love to see some oversight from the Department of Justice within all of the City of Cleveland Department of Safety and hope you can bring attention to the matters within this city.


Sam Livingston