California Professional Firefighters

As the nation marks the one-year anniversary of the Yarnell Hills Fire tragedy, the California fire service is urging all departments to join in the 2014 Safety Stand Down on July 3.

In a humbling act of generosity on Memorial Day weekend, an anonymous Air Force spouse thanked Vacaville firefighters Sunday by paying for their groceries when an emergency call forced them to leave station shopping unfinished. 

A burst of heat-assisted wildfires continued to roar through portions of San Diego County, with total acreage burned topping 10,000. The largest blaze is at Camp Pendleton. A body was discovered in a transient camp, the first confirmed fatality. 

 Governor Jerry Brown has signed CPF-sponsored legislation easing an arbitrary limit on survivor benefits for the families of firefighters stricken by job-related cancer.

S.A.V.E. -- CPF's California Fire Foundation has launched the Supplying Aid to Victims of Emergency (SAVE) program. The program allows firefighters at the scene of destructive events to provide victims with a gift card to help get them back on their feet. 

More than 40 California State Legislators and staff members participated in the California Professional Firefighters Fire Ops 101 training session March 5 on the west steps of the Capitol and got a chance to take some heat.

California firefighters now have a forceful advocate on EMS issues as CPF Secretary-Treasurer Lew Stone has been sworn in as the new chair of California's Emergency Medical Services Commission.  

A Sacramento judge has rejected San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed's effort to rewrite the attorney general's ballot description of his pension-slashing initiative. The ruling virtually assures it will not be on the ballot in 2014. 

Outside interests are gathering to press their attacks on firefighter pensions after initial defeats and the anti-pension forces have stepped up efforts on the local level. It's a Wall Street battle against public employees.

The California Fire Foundation has an easy way for you to designate all or a portion of your California tax refund to the expansion and upkeep of the California Firefighters Memorial. Just check off Line 406 on your tax return.