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Fully InvolvedPompano Beach Professional Firefighters

A Bi-Monthly Newsletter Issue #3 May-June 2014

Our negotiating team came to an agreement with the City of Pompano Beach for 2 contracts. 2010-2013 and 2013-2016. On April 4th & 5th we held 2 meetings and ratified the 2 contracts. I want to thank everyone on the negotiating team for their hard work over the last few months. Our negotiating team was Ted Martin, Ted Patton, Jeff Valerga, Steve Hudson, and Michael Fox. We will continue to keep good relations with the City of Pompano Beach and look forward to a great future.

New Contract

New ContractOur negotiating team strikes a deal.

Charity CornerFirefighter Takeover, Poker Event, Relay for Life...

Awards BanquetThis years Installation Dinner was at the Marriott.

Events CalendarKeep up to date with what’s going on

Get Involved

Plus more....Retiree ColumnSeafood FestivalStation NewsHot ShotsAnd more.....

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We were super busy the last few months with several Charity Events. We will continue to help many charities and our community.Above left: Bru’s Room Firefighter Takeover. Above Middle: American Cancer Society. Above Right: MDA Boot Drive. Lower Left: Relay for Life.

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Thanks to Neil Weidman.Another successful year for charity

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2014 Firefighter Takeover

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2014 Installation Dinner& Awards Banquet

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Neil Weidman

Scott Friend, Elio Estopinan, Michael Fox, & Travis Griffith

Ralph Edo

Travis GriffithCarlos Descalzo

Chief Harry Small

Scott Gritter

Billy Smith David Appelblatt

Elke MoyeKevin StickleyPatrice Delaney

Peter Bray

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Retired Firefighters of Pompano Beach

Local 1549

Rob “Bubba” Brantley moved to Pompano Beach in 1969 from Fort Worth, TX. He went to Pompano Beach Junior High and Pompano Beach Senior High and graduated in 1974. He then got a job with the city of Pompano in 1975 with the Recreation Department then Pompano’s Public Works in the Building Maintenance Department as an electrician helper. Finally, “Bubba” was hired as a Firefighter for the City of Pompano Beach in 1978. After 33 years of service, he retired in 2011. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the City of Pompano Beach Credit Union and now working for a marine electrical engineering firm in Fort Lauderdale. “Bubba” is an Honorary Lifetime Member with our Local 1549.

If you ever attended a Pompano Beach Fire Rescue Officer Installation / Firefighter of the Year / Company of the Year Awards Banquet the one thing you can expect is to see retired Fire Chief Gean Hedges. Every year he and his wife Alice make their way from Fountain, Fl. near Panama City. Most of you only know him as the guy who gets up at the banquet and tells a few jokes, give us some very good advice, then presents the Company of the Year award that is in his name. I thought that all of the non grass cutters and newer firefighters should know a little bit about him. I’ve known Chief Hedges since 1970. I went to high school with his oldest son Howard. At that time Gean was the Assistant Chief. Gean moved with his family to Pompano in 1946 when he was 13. At that time the City of Pompano only had 1 firetruck, the 1926 American LaFrance we now have in our Fire Museum which was built in 1925 to house that truck. Shortly after moving to Pompano he became a volunteer fireman until he joined the Navy in 1953. From 1926 to 1948 the Pompano Beach Fire Department was all volunteer. There was a mix of paid and volunteer firefighters until the mid 1950’s.

An interview with the Big Chief

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Gean Served in the Navy until December of 1956. He returned to Pompano Beach Fire Department as a volunteer. He was hired as a full time firefighter in 1957. Back then there were no Kelly days, you worked 24 hrs on and 48 hrs off. We didn’t get Kelly days until the 1970’s. Gean worked his way up through the ranks over the next few years and was promoted, replacing Chief Goodrich. We’ll talk about Chief Goodrich on another day. Chief Hedges accomplished quite a bit during his tenure with the Fire Department. In 1966 he was voted Firefighter of the Year for the Florida State Fireman’s Association for leading an extrication of a truck driver who worked for a local company called Hard Drives. The driver was hauling a heavy roller and had to stop short. The driver was pinned underneath the dash. Gean used a Sawzall (new technology at the time) to remove the legs of the truck seat and with the assistance of Firefighter Tony Carboni, another infamous character who worked for Pompano Beach Fire Department, removed the seat with the driver in it. The driver survived and would hit his air horn every time he would pass the stations to say thanks.Eugene C. Hedges was also President of the Florida State Firefighters Association from 1968 through 1969. If you look at the names on our Local 1549 charter from 1965 you will find his name on it. Under threat of being fired, he held meetings at his home in the early 1960’s to form our union. Chief Hedges was also a renaissance man of sorts, with his association and the IAFF he foresaw the future of the fire service. He knew the fire service could not survive without EMS. In 1970 he would take his slide

projector and screen to all of the different clubs and associations into our city fathers to convince them to incorporate Fire and Rescue, making Pompano Beach Fire Department one of the first cities in the state to provide this service. The City of Pompano Beach had some of the first State Certified Paramedics. He served as Fire Chief from 1971 to 1981. During that time a lot of changes happened. We went from no Kelly days to 1 Kelly day every 6 weeks. We then went to 1 Kelly day every 3 weeks which is our current benefit today. Our paychecks were also greatly increased along with many benefits. There are so many more things he did to bring our Fire Department into the 20th century. He is still involved with the fire service in Fountain, FL. and Day County. There is so much more we can talk about, but we don’t have the ink to print them all. So next time you see Chief Hedges walking toward the podium, I hope you appreciate his jokes and advice a little more.

......Continued

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Pompano BeachFirefighter Takeover

Neil Weidman did it again. We we’re back home in Pompano Beach at Bru’s Room where it all

started. We raised $1,905.00 for the Broward Children’s Center not including bar sales (10%). Thanks to everyone who donated and helped with this event. Thanks to the guys who got up on stage. We can’t wait till next year!

MDA Charity TotalsThere has been a few different events to raise money for the MDA. We had our 1st Annual Spaghetti Dinner which raised

$1,040.00. Thanks to Steve Hudson for starting this event and giving us a head start to break our record from last

year. Our Seafood Festival booth raised over $400.00. Ken Shelley headed this with the help of Jason Dhaveloose, Jonathan Fredberg, & Hector Jimenez. Our Annual Fill

The Boot drive kicked in as our Firefighters hit the streets and broke our record in collections. Our Local 1549

collected just over $12,400 total for the MDA this year. Ken Shelley has done a great job with this charity and has

dedicated a lot of time. Patrick Cronin has taken over as MDA Summer Camp Coordinator this year. There are 15 of our Pompano Beach Firefighters that will be cooking and volunteering to help out this year. The date is June 12th. We will have pictures and details from this event in our

next issue. Thanks again to all the volunteers and help with the Fire Departments biggest charity.

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Ken Shelley, Dhaveloose, Friedberg, & Jimenez ran the booth at the festival. Great job guys!

Seafood Festival

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Poker 4 CharityWe raised $1,415.25 at our Poker Event held at the 3080 Club on

April 4th. Thank you to everyone who came out and donated to a great cause. Janeen Mckenzie won the event and

donated all of her winnings back to the American Cancer Society. We will be planning another Poker

Event later this year. Thanks to Mike Fox for putting this together

Relay for Life CharityWe raised a total of $2,198.60 for the American Cancer Society. The

Poker Event was also added to this charity and we were able to donate $3,613.85Thanks to everyone who helped setup, donate, and participate.

Thanks to Steve Hudson for putting this together. We came in 5th place overall and killed B.S.O. in a direct challenge from our

Mayor. Great Job! Below is a list of names who donated to this great cause.

Alex De La Torre Hudak Family Kyle Kurth Patrick Jay

B Shift Collections Hector Jimenez Marc Starke Samantha Kievman

Bryan Speed Ivo De Franceschi Matthew Macneir Steve Hudson Sr.

Cheryl Nielsen Steve Hudson Jr. Meaghan Cunningham Team Fitx.com

Daniel Appelblatt Jeff Valerga Michael Fox Ted Martin

Eric Reynolds Kevin Hyatt Neil Weidman Theresa Garcia

Femia Family Kim Woerner Patrick Cronin Vincent Hreso

Daron Davis Larry Wolverton

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Hot Shots

Patrick Cronin & Brad Lawson on the nozzle. Brad is wondering where the pump panel is?

First Red Fire Helmet issued to Lt. Corbo

Bill Egan with his morning

wake up call while eating his

favorite cereal.

Cap’N Crunch Drivers tend to forget how that bunker gear works

every now & then

Cappo

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11 103

Station NewsStation 11 has a contract out for bid and should be awarded very soon. Construction will begin in the next few weeks.

Station 103 is on schedule. The footers have been poured and the underground work is nearly completed.

Exhaust Removal SystemsClean Air Concepts won the bid to install new Exhaust Removal Systems in 4 existing fire stations. Station 24, 52, 61, & 63 are getting these systems installed now. You might have seen them already over the last few weeks. Our old systems were Plymovent. The new system is MagnaGrip. The systems will have a direct capture and Air Purification System which will be activated prior to vehicle entrance with sensors. The total cost of the 4 systems is $211,660. The AFG grant will pay 80%($169,328) and the City of Pompano Beach will pay 20% ($42,332.06). These should be completed and operational in June.

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Calendar of Events

•May 5 - Union Meeting (3080 Club)•June 2 - Union Meeting (3080 Club)•Jun 2-6 - FPF 70th Annual Convention (Naples, FL)•Jun 12 - MDA Summer Camp (West Palm Beach, FL)•July 14-18 - IAFF 52nd Convention (Cincinatti, OH)•Sep 20 - IAFF Fallen Firefighters Memorial (CO)•Nov 15-16 - Pompano Softball Tournament

Promotions

•Kelly Darracott - Lieutenant•Steve Sirota - Driver Engineer•Vinny Hreso - Driver Engineer

Retirement

•Stephen Fleming- Lieutenant (28 Years of Service)Started in 1986. Nintendo introduced, Bears won Superbowl, Chernobyl nuclear accident, Challenger explodes, “We are the World” song hits #1

•Elke Moye - Fire Inspector (20 Years of Service)Started in 1994. Nancy Kerrigan attacked, OJ arrested, ER & Friends debut, MLB strike, Curt Cobain kills himself. Forrest Gump & Pulp Fiction

•Brian Schafer- Driver Engineer (33 Years of Service)Started in 1981. MTV goes on air, Pac-Man fever, Reagan takes oath, AIDS first identified, IBM introduces MS-DOS, Raiders of the Lost Ark

•Scott Gritter - Fire Inspector (29 Years of Service)Started in 1985. 49ers beat Dolphins in Superbowl. $.20 Stamp, Madonna goes on tour, Reagan begins 2nd term, Back to the Future & Goonies

We are looking for help. Please send pictures and stories to treasurer@iaff1549.org