Thread: Save this American fireman!

I saw this fire fighter on an interviw with Neil Cavuto, on Fox News, it made me indignated, Cavuto is one of the few reporting these things, O'Reilley and Sean seems to be afraid of the matter.

PHREDE

6. I'd like to write a paragraph or two about our situation here in OR (State Gov't, US Senators, US Reps, illegal population, etc. ...) but won't out of respect for rules here (keeping to a single-issue). While there is a lot to be concerned about, there are some very good and interesting things going on as well.... maybe in a new topic somewhere perhaps.

By all means, write about Oregon's info. There's a forum for "Other Topics News and Issues" where you can post it for us

Well, folks, Those of you who emailed Lafferty, probably got this reply too.

Hello,

I am writing in response to your recent email regarding the Oregon Department of Forestry’s language requirements for the leaders of private contract fire crews. Recent television coverage has caused confusion and concern, prompting numerous calls and emails to our office. Here is some information that I hope will explain the situation and address concerns that you may have.

An inaccurate report in the news media was circulated widely during the week of June 19, causing widespread concern. Jaimie Pickering appeared in several regional and national TV interviews in which he misrepresented our language policy. In addition, he misrepresented his own credentials. Let me briefly go through the falsehoods and clarify our actual policies.

Mr. Pickering’s claim: Jaimie Pickering represented himself as a fire crew boss of a private contract fire crew. He claimed that because he does not speak Spanish, he was demoted.

Dept. of Forestry response: Mr. Pickering has never been a fire crew boss. He lacks the training and experience to hold this position. We are not aware of anybody that has ever been fired or demoted from any contract crew because they could not speak Spanish. English is the language of firefighting in the U.S.

Mr. Pickering’s claim: He implied in statements to news media that he was an employee of the Oregon Department of Forestry.

Dept. of Forestry response: Mr. Pickering has never been an employee of the department.

Mr. Pickering’s claim: He claimed that he was dismissed as a firefighter trainer because of his “whistle blowing” against the Department of Forestry regarding our language requirements.

Dept. of Forestry response: Mr. Pickering began making this public claim in late June 2006. In mid-April of this year, he asked the Department of Forestry to review his fire training credentials, because he said he wanted to work as a fire crew boss. At his request, we reviewed Pickering’s records and discovered several deficiencies to meet the national certification standard for a crew boss. Our review revealed that he did not possess the requisite training and experience to be a fire crew boss. He was informed in April of the courses needed and the on-the-job experience necessary to become a crew boss.

During the review of his credentials we found that he had been providing training for hire to other contract firefighters beyond the level his accepted credentials (Basis Firefighter) would allow. There were also a number of deficiencies with the training he provided and irregularities in the documentation that he was providing. These deficiencies revealed a significant pattern of actions by Mr Pickering’s training business that did not comply with the standards of the profession. As a result of the months-long investigation, the Pacific Northwest Wildfire Coordinating Group terminated Mr. Pickering’s agreement to train contract firefighters on June 27.

Language requirements for private contract fire crews: English is the language of firefighting in the U.S. It is the standard throughout the country and we adhere to it. Each year, the Oregon Department of Forestry administers a contract to procure fire crews from private companies to fight wildfires. In recent years, a number of private contractors bidding on the contract have been U.S. citizens of Hispanic decent and many of them train their leaders from within their company. If a private fire crew company chooses to hire non-English-speaking firefighters, we then require that they provide crew leaders that, in addition to reading and speaking English, also speak the language of those non-English crewmembers. This requirement is for the safety of the firefighters and effectiveness of the firefighting effort. These leaders must be able to understand the briefings and orders they receive as well as be able to communicate in English effectively on two-way radios. Migrant farm workers with bilingual crew leaders have been a part of the nations firefighting workforce since the early 1960s. It is nothing new.

Oregon Department of Forestry is working with the Clackamas Community College to develop an improved language verification process for fire crew leaders. We want to ensure that these leaders possess the English reading and speaking skills they need to perform safely and effectively on the fireline. To date, of the 80 potential crew leaders tested in the pilot program, 17 were found to have a need for improved English skills before we could accept them as a crew leader. When the verification process becomes mandatory in 2007, crew leaders who cannot meet the English proficiency standard will have an opportunity to take English language classes at the Community College at their own expense.

A note about immigration status: Contractors bear the primary responsibility for ensuring that their employees have legal work status. We believe that most contract crew members have such status. However, knowing there are illegal immigrants in many labor pools throughout this country, we are working increasingly with federal immigration authorities and other partners to monitor the immigration status of contract crew members. We have contract language that will hold private contactors accountable if found to use illegal immigrants.

I hope the above information addresses your concerns about Oregon’s private contract fire crews.

Sincerely,

Bill Lafferty, director

Protection from Fire Program

2ndamendsis:

Hi There.
I'll do it. As I have been reading all the many really superb posts on this forum (I'm a relative newbie by the way), I often have thought to myself..."hmmm, I wonder what an average day for a person in <some state/city> would be like?" We tend to be rather provincial out here in the NW upper-left quadrant of the country and most of the time we go unnoticed. I figure, the least I could do is try to give a 'feel' for what is happening here with some attention to the local history, government, attempts at fixing the current mess, etc. really are...

Note: Might take a day or two to whip together - so please bear with me.
Please don't expect any literary-groundbreaking work - but, hopefully, I can cover enough to let others see our problem in sufficient detail to understand what the heck is going on... Most likely, I'll put the most emphasis on the political issues - after all, that is where the policies are created and/or enforced - and those things I have been following very closely as of late.

Re: Bill Lafferty's response - Not at all surprised nor am I impressed (or even convinced, for that matter). I'm still following the angles in that story closely.

*Happy 4th everyone* - be safe out there.

Ok thank you for bills letter. I had not seen it yet. Forestry always trys to put it back on the contractors. even our inmates get called to fire before us. after all anything to save money so they can go on vacation to hawaii. you can go to my website www.highlandwildfire.com or email me..I have no money to fight this with ledigation but i am asking for a public hearing for my postion. then they will have to give me back my MoU and i'll train again. But i'll never get compasated for what i've lost.(Creaditbility, Respect, and Money) anyone is welcome to look at my record and talk to me.

I'll be at the Capitol in Salem, Or at 9am friday
oh and by the way i have had other people come forward that this has happened to.


Jaime Pickering
Highland Wildfire Inc.
480 E Powell St. #B
Monmouth, Or 97361
HWI2005@hotmail.com
503-931-3766 Cell
503-838-0879 Home


P.S. Thank you all for the Support.
and by the way you noticed in bills letter that he claimes I IMPLIED(Big words, I'd love to see there evidence) that i worked for the state. I'm a private contractor with 15 years exp. Over in Vale, Or a crew boss that quit the Snake River Valley program run by the state of Oregon says that your not required to speak english even as a squad boss or crew boss. they use a crew rep. This rule only applies to Private Contractors.

WELCOME HWI!
Great to have you add your voice to ours in this important fight!
Please keep us updated on this important issue.

PhredE
Great.......it's always a good thing to know what's going on in each state.
Looking forward to reading your post when it's ready

Thanks for having me. I'm working on turning my record into a adobe pdf file so that everyone can see for themselves this is a blatent form of retaliation.
I've had contractors email me with similer probelms and the same problems
as i am having. 3 different statements from the forestry dept and there all different. i'll be back at the capitol in salem oregon again tomorrow 9am to 5 pm. All i want is my Postion back and my MoU back. I just want to work..is that to much to ask?

HWI - Yes, please let us know what happens. You've got friends here.