Where There Is Smoke…(PT 1)

by friscowhistleblower | Apr 16, 2023 | City Council, Civil Service and Collective Bargaining, Frisco Fire - NFPA 1710 Safe Staffing Levels, Matt Sapp - President of FFFA, Mayor Jeff Cheney, Politics, Public Safety, Public Safety Staffing Issues, Safest City

Imagine it is your first day of work and you arrive at your new office excited to start the day.  You have no idea in minutes life is going to change forever but then you hear it, it sounds like an explosion, like a bomb.  You open your eyes to see a fireball just passing right beside you.  You look around, realize you are trapped, and you stop and think, “I am going to die here today.”  You remember praying, “God, I don’t believe you brought me here to die like this.”  Then you hear it, the sound of a fire extinguisher and you realize first responders are making their way into the office building.   You can’t breathe but know you have to get help, so you reach out through the smoke when you feel a hand on the other side of the smoke.  It grabs you and pulls you through the smoke to safety.  You quickly “that hand” rescued three people, but you were the only one to survive.  This isn’t a story; it is the reality of Sheila Moody who lived through 9/11 at the Pentagon.  She learned a plane traveling 530 mph carrying 7000 gallons of fuel crashed into her office and she was one of three to survive out of 46 people in her office.

Now imagine you are at work and just like the rest of America you are glued to the TV watching what is unfolding in New York and DC.  The phone rings and you learn as the East Coast Task Force leader for the Federal Urban Search and Rescue System that you are being deployed to the Pentagon.  You pack up and head north for a 3-hour drive to D.C.   This is what happened to Former Frisco Fire Chief Mark Piland.  Now ask yourself, where were you on September 11, 2001?  Can you imagine what those first responders saw that day and the days to come?   Would you have the guts and emotional stability to do that job?  Truthfully I can’t for one moment put myself in the shoes of survivor Sheila Moody or first responders.  Men and woman across the country answer the call every day, and in Frisco all they have asked for was more staff and a workers compensation plan with the maximum coverage to protect them.  At the last debate, Piland asked a simple question, why would we not want them to have that? 

The issue of staffing and workers’ compensation in Frisco goes back many years.  At the Star Patriot debate,  Piland said the city should support current Texas House Bill 471 which relates to the entitlement to and claims for benefits for certain first responders and other employees related to illness and injury.  We thought it was an odd statement because why would the safest city in America, one of the #1 places to live, not have a full coverage workers compensation plan for first responders who answer the call in our city.  Also discussed was the NFPA 1710 Safe Staffing Levels for a fire department.  Piland said as a city we don’t meet the NFPA 1710 requirement which can potentially put our firefighters and residents in a dangerous position.  We are not experts in this field so we had to do a little research to understand the history so we could try to explain it to you.  We don’t have a horse in this race, we are not related to anyone who serves as a first responder in Frisco or anywhere else for that matter. 

Before we can address the debate issues you need to understand some history.  Let’s travel back in time like Marty McFly in our Delorean time machine.  Frisco Firefighters have been fighting for years for a full coverage workers comp plan.   It appears a written letter dated April 20, 2021, from the city to the state legislators opposed HB 2242 regarding workers compensation for first responders.  Mayor Cheney claims the letter was sent by Ben Brezina IN ERROR on May 12 at 11:09 am (even though incorrectly dated earlier) opposing HB 2242 but then a retraction was sent the same day at 11:34 am.  The letter had Mayor Jeff Cheney’s electronic signature, yet he claims he never actually saw the letter before it was sent. 

That means a letter went to a state agency without first being seen and/or reviewed by several people including the mayor himself.  Should we be concerned?  Following the unbelievable, absolutely embarrassing so called error the response from the Frisco Fire Fighters Association (FFA) was a letter to Frisco Residents expressing their disappointment that Mayor Cheney, the city and council, attempted to kill house bill 2242 at the State Legislature which would protect first responders across the state. The letter states he did this with no regard for the thousands of police, firefighters and EMS personnel and the families it would protect.  It went on to say the mayor has chosen to use his position to help elect a candidate (in reference to Angelia Pelham) that had voluntarily refused to submit a political questionnaire to the FFA.  Based on who has endorsed her, and the view expressed toward the FFA  they can only assume if elected she would have the same disregard not only for firefighter issues but all First Responders.  We also found a letter to one of the fire fighters in the city that had exhausted all their protected leave due to a work-related medical issue.  It notified the employees that if their request for accommodation was denied they would have 30-day days to apply for another position in the city or their employment would be terminated.  

Question, why would the city ever oppose or stay neutral on a bill for first responders regarding workers compensation?  How is a letter sent in error regarding a legislative bill with the mayor’s signature and he does not review that beforehand?  Why would we terminate a firefighter for medical leave related to an on-the-job injury/illness, but Ben Brezina can send a letter by ACCIDENT to the State of Texas Legislature and not be fired?   Lastly, why was a letter even written in opposition if they never had any intention of taking a position on the bill?  The whole think stinks of some Shady Shit and we can understand why Piland took a stance and said the city should endorse the current bill before the State of Texas Legislature it at the debate. 

Piland also pointed out that the Frisco Fire Department does not meet the national staffing requirements.  He gave an example of mid/high rise building which would national high rise staffing requirement is  43 firefighters, yet Frisco’s response is 25 fire fighters.  He also pointed based on a 2000 sq ft home the response should be 17 firefighters and he then asked how many homes in Frisco do you think are under that square footage?  Lastly he said most cities have 4-person truck staffing and Frisco only has 3 per truck and typical response times should be 8 min and in some areas of the city we are at 9 minutes.   

Cheney said it is the council’s job to hire the city manager and it is the city manager’s job to hire and make sure we are meeting expectations for our departments.   Is he saying the reason we are not at full staff is the fault of George Purefoy and Wes Pierson then?  He went on to say the city council is aware of what’s going on and that the current interim Chief Glover has done an amazing job.   They are in the process of hiring a new fire department chief, but Glover has already raised morale, regained trust and started changing operations.  He said it was evident that Glover, Purefoy and Pierson have different philosophies than that of Piland which was evident during his tenure as Fire Chief.  Lastly Cheney said the national standards are not specific to any one community.  We have had 6 high rise structure fires and the standard calls for 62 firefighters, and we have 75 on for every shift.   Lastly Cheney firmly stated “We have what we need.” 

In part two we will see, if we have what we need so stay tuned….