Cedar Falls Firefighter's Local #1366

Just a reminder to the citizens of Cedar Falls. Cedar Falls Firefighters Local 1366 has not forgotten you. It may seem like the wheels of justice turn slowly but that is because the City of Cedar Falls refuses to accept the Iowa District Court's ruling that the Professional Firefighters were removed for wrongful reasons. The City then appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court.
While the City has the right to appeal it should give you pause to wonder why they did. Imagine if Cedar Falls had to take back highly experienced and trained professional firefighters who knew the equipment and all the fire and safety hazards associated with the community. Most communities would welcome the opportunity to have such employees work for them, but not Cedar Falls.
The absence of true professional firefighters in Cedar Falls removes the looking glass for review of actions taken on the emergency ground by people who are truly experienced and trained. You may have heard the saying, "You can fool the audience, but not the players." That is the case here, and Cedar Falls Local 1366 brought you the facts, that being the good, the bad, and the ugly truths of what was happening with the deteriorating emergency response as Public Safety integrated further into the Fire Department. We brought you written facts, and even video until the City of Cedar Falls removed the helmet cameras and laid off all the remaining Local 1366 members who were there to witness it and report to you.
So we wait to hear from the Iowa Supreme Court on this important case showcasing whether municipalities can violate clearly written and
obvious Iowa Code (law) and get away with it. You, the taxpayers, can speak on this issue at the polls in a couple months. Current City officials and City Council members have made it quite clear how they feel about Public Safety and are quite commfortable with the actions taken against the professional firefighters by the City. Do you feel the same? Be bold, be vocal, it is your town unless you choose to let others make it what they want. Every landslide starts with a slight movement, be the movement.

This page wants to acknowledge that the validity of a prior reposting of a car accident on Main St. Was called into question by Mayor Greene. After this site could not identify the origination or author of the post, it was removed from this page.
This site does not typically repost others posts about local incidents but given the nature of the accusations that were made it was important that the Public knew so they could reach out to find out if it was accurate. As the author would not come forward, this site will not leave the post up.
Thanks to Mayor Green for his rapid investigation into the matter. Only through transparency can everything ever be known.

Firefighters win again in PERB appeal!

The Iowa Public Employees Relations Board (PERB) just came down with another victory for the professional firefighters of Cedar Falls. The PERB board affirmed the earlier ruling of Administrative Law Judge Amber DeSmet. We encourage everyone to read the board's ruling themselves. It is only 6 pages long but it makes some strong statements concerning the City's wrongful removal of the professional firefighters. The PERB board gives the City of Cedar Falls only 20 days to meet with Local 1366 and devise an agreement. If one cannot be reached, the board will devise its own solution. Local 1366 looks forward to a positive resolution for the citizens of Cedar Falls. This is a huge victory for what is right.

This really sums up Local 1366.

Educate yourselves, don't believe the propaganda the City puts out. You have been lied to. The proof is below.

https://larryklodtphotos.smugmug.com/FIREFIGHTING-PHOTOS/Cedar-Falls-IA-Fire-Rescue-/CEDAR-FALLS-PUBLIC-SAFETY-DEPARTMENT/3112-Boulder-Dr-November-04-2021/i-F8HQFSD/A

This is a video taken by Larry Klodt of Cedar Falls Public Safety responding to an apartment fire on November 4th, 2021. If you watch the video you might think that it shows police and fire working together to raise a 3 section ladder. But to the trained professional firefighter eye it screams out that these individuals are horribly trained and leadership from their Supervisors is all but nonexistent.

One might think, why does it matter how a ladder is set up? It is because it shows all the areas that are lacking and how those can lead to accidents, injuries, and and even worse on an emergency scene.

Here is what a professional firefighter sees. Here it is taking 5 individuals to set up this ladder. Professional firefighters are trained to do this safely with either 2 or 3 firefighters and a highly trained professional firefighter can do it safely alone if needed. This frees up other firefighters to perform critical tasks like search and rescue and fire suppression.

Secondly, raising a ladder is one of the most basic tasks taught in the firefighter 1 curriculum. In the Firefighter 1 instruction manual firefighters are taught that your hands and fingers are always on the outside of the beam prior to pulling on the rope to raise the top section(s) of the ladder. This is clearly shown in both print and pictures in the firefighter 1 instruction manual. This is so important because if the hooks that keep the sections from sliding do not engage the upper sections can come sliding down and slice, cut, or break you hands, fingers, or wrists. In the video you can watch the female firefighter on the left pull her hand back rapidly as this exact thing happens. That female firefighter is a Public Safety Supervisor above the rank of a Professional Fire Captain. She should know all the techniques of raising a ladder and should be addressing all deficiencies in safely doing this ladder raise but she herself does not even know how to it properly.

Secondly you will see a firefighter dressed all in his work blue uniform, devoid of any fire gear. He is holding onto the rungs of the ladder as the rope is pulled. His wrists could be shattered. That individual is most likely a driver of one of the apparatus. He should be highly trained in all firefighter techniques, as well as how to run all the equipment on his firetruck, including his ladders. He clearly is also devoid of any knowledge on how to simply raise a ladder properly.

Thirdly the placement of the ladder far below the window gives the ladder no useful function. The ladder should have went right up to bottom of the window sill, in the window, or beside the window. Where it was placed provides no possible function on the fireground.

Lastly, all individuals, less one, in the video are devoid of proper fire gear to be operating on the fireground directly under a window where the fire is/was located. Proper head, eye, upper body, lower body, feet, and hand protection is needed. This is the very first thing you are taught in firefighting, to have you protective gear on while operating on an emergency scene. This shows that even the most basic lesson is firefighting has not been learned, or at least definitely not enforced.

Just think for a minute what an injury investigator, like an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) investigator would think while watching this video. Picture if one of the residents of the apartment would have gotten hurt or worse and sued the City. How do you think the City would fare in court. Remember the City Administration took the firefighter helmet cameras away from the professional firefighters when it started to document this very same failures that the professional firefighters started to point out to the public. Here a civilian captured this "debotchery" of a ladder raise.

The City Administration, City Council (less Dave Sires), and the Mayor Green all have boasted about the Public Safety officers firefighting capabilities. However, to the true professional firefighters the PSOs are just "posing" as firefighters and nothing more. Citizens you have been duped long enough. Eliminate Public Safety in its entirety. You have been given all the evidence you need. The ability is in you hands, all you need to do now is vote your conscious.

3112 Boulder Dr. November 04, 2021 - Larry Klodt Commercial Building Fire - 3112 Boulder Dr. Cedar Falls, IA. November 04, 2021.

This "minimum" is the training level and response that Cedar Falls Public Safety is providing. For less money you can have dedicated professional firefighters. Only the citizens of Cedar Falls can eliminate the Public Safety Department and have a Professional Police and Fire Department that you can be proud of once again. Do your part as citizens and make a good choice when you vote next.

Scammer Alert! It has come to my attention that there are "limited edition Cedar Falls Local 1366 T-shirts" out there on an advertisement for sale. We believe this site is a scammer. Do not buy from them!!!

Today Cedar Falls Mayor Green goes against the Black Hawk County Courts directions again.

Mayor Green once again has decided to ignore the courts directions and violate them again. This time he has given out the court reporters transcript freely to the public. Unlike the court ruling which is free to the public, the transcripts of the hearing are the court reporters "work product" and how they get paid.
By publishing a link to the Cities copy of the transcripts he is depriving the two court reporters who transcribed the hearing of their income. This is just of Mayor Green's unwillingness to follow the courts instructions.
Earlier Mayor Green commented on the transcripts after he was told he was not supposed to as the transcripts were only disseminated to counsels for the purpose of making briefs in lieu of having closing arguments.
This town needs a Mayor who can follow rules and cares about others income more than himself trying to make points with the public.
Just as a reminder, Mayor Green never attended a single day of the hearings, and wrote how he was so proud of the public safety program. Only when he feels the changing tides does decide to act like he cared at all about what was happening in the hearing.
Don't be fooled by him.

Hoping the PSOs are actually trained
Hoping the PSOs actually even show up to your emergency.
Hoping the PSOs remember any of what little training they received.

Hope is not a strategy, the PSO model was built on lies.

Lie #1 public safety saves money over separate police and fire.
Truth: Skyrocketing budgets have plagued the Public Safety Model the mode they integrated it.

Lie #2 PSOS are trained just as equally as professional firefighters.
Truth: PSOs were trained to maybe get it right once, professional firefighters are trained to get it right EVERY time, and know so much more.

Lie #3 The cities motives for laying off the professional firefighters was legitimate.
Truth: It was deemed by an Administrative Law judge to have been retaliatory, discriminating, and due to their amicus toward the Fire Union.

Don't rely on hope, make a change, and demand a return to a fully seperate professional police and fire departments.

The Ruling from Black Hawk County Court is now public and it upholds Cedar Falls Firefighters claims that the City of Cedar Falls put the citizens safety at risk by lowering fire promotional standards to promote Police officers to Fire Supervisory positions.

Cedar Falls citizens should take note that a District Court Judge has ORDERED the City of Cedar Falls to rewrite the job descriptions for the Public Safety Supervisor positions. To this sites knowledge it is the first time in Iowa a City has been taken to Court for lowering standards to the point at which the Court felt the need to intervene on behalf of the safety of the citizens.

Cedar Falls Professional Firefighters have proven their accusations time and time again that the Public Safety Administration in Cedar Falls is either corrupt or incompetent. Either way you looks at it these officials should no longer be allowed to play "fast and loose" with the citizens safety in order to carry out their apparent vendetta against the professional firefighters. You the citizens do have the power to do something to eliminate the public safety program in its entirety. The complete elimination of the public safety program is what is needed in order to assure that all the "bad actors" are not allowed to continue to benefit while they place the citizens safety at greater risk.

Unfortunately removing the current Public Safety Supervisors from their current promotions went beyond the scope of this case that was filed. However, the citizens can ask their Mayor and City Council to do just that. Replace these Public Safety Supervisors with a hiring for professional Fire Captains and Fire Battalion Chiefs. This would allow true fire professionals an avenue to upgrade our fire department. So get on the phone and make some calls, get active!