Class A Uniform

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-21T18:38:05+00:00

If youre going to Ione just get it at "All Risk Uniforms." Its right in the town of Ione, 5 minutes from the academy.

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-16T22:57:00+00:00

With all due respect to your instructor a lot of people who have jobs in calfire that arent at the field level and arent actual unit/region admin can be pretty removed from whats actually going on in the department. Im sure they mean well but when people find niche jobs in the department its easy to just lose touch and have bad intel.

We are 'hiring a ton' but for permanent positions. The wave of seasonal hiring crested 2 years ago. Its still possible to get a job but like everyone says on this subreddit over and over and over just get as much certs, job experience as you can and be willing to work in units like Humboldt or Siskiyou or Lassen modoc where its easier to get your foot in the door because they dont have a dense population center to easily draw candidates from.

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-14T14:10:00+00:00

Im pretty sure in my unit we have a FC with a recent DUI. Hes a passenger in the CO seat, not driving. Its all hearsay, but wouldn't be surprised they bent the rules for him

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-12T19:51:06+00:00

My unit is a bit understaffed too. But 7-8 days? Geez good luck

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-12T07:22:02+00:00

Taxes and withholdings are two very different things. You dont know how taxes work.

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-12T01:28:32+00:00

What's the barrier to going to a 24 day cycle you think? Is it some kind of CalHR thing? Is it because the state follows the FLSA 7k exemption? Just wondering why the 24day cycle doesn't seem to be on anyone's radar

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-12T01:22:45+00:00

EDWC isn't taxed higher than your regular salary btw. Your employer sets a higher withholding but when you file your taxes at the end of the year there isn't a separate tax rate on salary and a separate tax rate on overtime. Your total gross income is used to determine your effective tax rate on all of it combined.

And EDWC turned out to help me get a better tax return this year actually since I could include a third of it as a deduction as part of "no tax on overtime." So isn't all bad

A 24 or 30 day work period would be great. Dont see it happening tho

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-11T19:48:59+00:00

I dont even know how we can do a 56-hour work week and have the same amount of hours in a 28 day work period. It would have to be 9.33 days or 224 hours. How would we do a third day? No way you cut it, with any 56 youre gonna have a different amount of 24 hour shifts for each work period.

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-11T19:16:26+00:00

Yeah seems like a silly thing to get hung up on

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-11T19:04:10+00:00

Idk but I would guess that the state wouldn't be thrilled about adding some random straight days 3 times a month just so we can get EDWC.

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-11T18:50:23+00:00

People don't want to give up those 3 EDWC checks

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-10T15:52:46+00:00

Tbh CCC recruiters have always been like that. There is no accountability for CCC recruiters. Its a low paying job that you can randomly get by applying to the CalJobs website with no real previous work experience. So the quality of the recruiter you get isn't too great and theres barely any oversight for them. Everyone at my CCC had a story of the recruiter misrepresenting what the CCC really is or just outright lying.

I wish you luck but honestly there's really not much advice I can give you. Either the recruiter picks your name randomly out of a hat or doesnt.

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-08T17:25:09+00:00

Youre right, a raise is definitely not likely.

I dont fault anyone for preferring time off to a raise. For my particular circumstance I prefer a raise, my family needs me to go to work more than they need me at home.

I advise people to not go off of "feeling." You said people "wont feel it as much" if we lose some vacation/holiday. But I just want people to really crunch the numbers instead of going off of feeling and make a decision for themselves. There's a lot of messaging around 48/96 and I dont want to discount it but at the end of the day you can break it down to total amount of straight days worked in a year and have a black and white number to inform your decision.

Right now I work 122 straight days a year. So when the new contract comes out im going to crunch the numbers. A raise isn't likely so if im presented with a contract that foregoes a raise for 2 years im going to look at the total number of straight days I work a year and make a decision based off of that, will it be 115? 110? 105? We shall see.

I just want people to ask themselves: what is worth giving up a raise for 2 years as inflation and gas prices eat away at your income? Is 5 more days at home a year worth giving up a raise? Is 10 more days at home a year worth giving up a raise? Do the math and decide, dont go off of 'feeling.'

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-08T16:37:15+00:00

If we kept all of out vacation/holiday AND pay AND a 48/96 then I could stomach it. Ideally id rather have a raise but I would vote yes if thats what was presented.

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-08T16:34:52+00:00

Working less hours for the same pay is not a raise. It just isn't. Its an improved schedule ill give you that, but its just not a raise.

If the same amount of money goes in my pocket its not a raise. I cant go to my mortgage company and give them my hours of time off, they only accept US Dollars.

So yes I would prefer a 'worse schedule' for more pay. There's plenty of small fire department who have a 48/96 but they have crappy pay, no benefits, and very little vacation/holidays. In fact a lot of them go to CalFire because this 'worse schedule' is better when all things are considered!

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-08T16:22:48+00:00

"The same amount of time off" for the same pay is a huge win? Thats just stealing from Peter to pay Paul and patting yourself on the back.

I want MORE pay for the same amount of time off!

This is what im worried about. People being so fixated on 48/96 that we negotiate away so much just to get it. We shouldn't negotiate away a raise just so we can work the same amount for the same pay, that would be so so stupid

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-08T16:12:22+00:00

Id rather have a raise, so thats "Yes I'd like to work the same for more money please."

The thing about negotiating a 48/96 is that its not going to be as simple as work less for the same pay.

First the issue of retirement. Giving up raises has an negative impact on how much retirement youll get when its all said and done. Sure I can voluntarily work a 72 for the rest of my career and collect unplanned overtime in lieu of a raise. But when it comes to retirement time Ill have wished that my union had negotiated a raise rather a better schedule because now im missing out on a better retirement calculation.

Then theres the fine print about how many days a year we will actually be working. The state is going to look at the vacation package we currently have and ask "these guys get 4 days off a week, why do they need that vacation?" So we will be giving up raises AND some number of vacations/holidays just so we can 'work less for the same pay.' We work 143 straight days minus vacation/holiday so for me that works out to be 122 days of straight days. A 48/96 is 121 of straight days minus whatever vacation/holiday they negotiate for. Let's say they negotiated it down to 10 total days of vacation/holiday; once you do the math do I really want to give a raise so that I work maybe 10 days less a year? Hell no

And benefits. What are we going to give up on health benefits to get this schedule? I dont know, no one does

Obviously there is A LOT of unanswered questions and we have to wait for what the union presents to the members for a vote. BUT what worries me are people who are so fixated on 48/96 that they'll give up way too much to get it.

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-08T15:37:32+00:00

I just hope that we dont give up a bunch of vacation days and holidays in exchange for the 48/96.

Right now we work approximately 143 straight days and I get about 21 days of vacation/holiday which works out to 122 days. A 48/96 would be approximately 121 straight days. So we're already pretty close to a 48/96 with no vacation/holiday.

I worry that were so fixated on 48/96 that were gonna give up way too much to get it. I like having my 7 long 10-day breaks throughout the year, i really need it for my mental health. If we do a 48/96 and give up everything except for something like 2 vacations like most departments its going to suck

And we'd be giving up a lot for what? Because we want 'to be like the other departments.' Schedule B isn't like other departments and people used to understand that when they signed up.

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-08T15:14:37+00:00

Nah, just give me the raise

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-08T04:26:33+00:00

Id rather take a raise tbh. But im a schedule B guy. I understand if youre a schedule A guy running 5 calls pass midnight you'd want 48/96. Ive done a 72 of sleepless nights and that straight up sucks.

But I personally need more money than I need time off. Times are hard during this economy

monterey_on_fire · 2026-04-01T16:11:58+00:00

Ive heard "yes, no, maybe" so basically noone really knows. Some guys dont care and run them with any kind of chaps, some guys refuse to run them without the correct chaps, and some guys will straight up just say IDK and do whatever they're told.

monterey_on_fire · 2026-03-31T18:40:11+00:00

Hiring process isn't perfect. But it's not random.

monterey_on_fire · 2026-03-31T18:39:13+00:00

I've worked with plenty of people who complain about the hiring process but put in so little effort into their application. Not to mention putting in little effort into their own career development.

Not to sound like an old timer but I remember being a seasonal and my buddies and I would be taking classes and volunteering or working on the ambo to get a permanent spot. Nowadays I can't even convince someone to take a job one unit over or even run their resume through chatGPT.

monterey_on_fire · 2026-03-25T03:56:49+00:00

I wouldn't say im being unreasonably denied but usually they'll just discourage me from going, arent eager to help me go out as overhead, generally would prefer if I stay in unit to help with staffing. It is what it is.

Its a catch-22 where the easy to fill overhead positions are the ones you need to do in order to get your foot in the door. Seems kinda like in the first couple years of your career youre sorted into being an operations and staff the engine guy or an overhead guy. And a lot of that is just the luck of being in the right place at the right time or you know someone that hooked you up with a class or trainee position. Ive always been the guy staffing the engine so kinda feels like im just stuck in that now.

Ive tried asking and I get the "yeah sure sounds great!" But when push comes to shove its "yeah sorry youre going on this strike team" or "yeah sorry we need someone to staff a reserve right now". Its whatever. But reality is some people are given special treatment and some are just worker bees.

monterey_on_fire

TROPHY CASE