On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when most folks are sitting down to enjoy dinner with family and friends, public safety officers, doctors and nurses and others in service industries still have to work. It’s not always easy – crime and accidents don’t take a break on holidays. The Sacramento Press asked some of them to share their holiday work experiences. These are their stories. FIRE DEPARTMENT: “(Christmas) is a pretty loaded day,” Doug Bruce, an engineer with Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, said Friday. “There is a lot of last-minute things going on, so there is a lot of traffic out. We keep busy.” Bruce said calls to the fire station can be strange no matter what the day,

The 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks is coming up, and throughout the country there will be memorials honoring the dead, but Sacramento firefighters ask that locals take the opportunity to come out and run a 5K race for a good cause. Through a partnership between various Sacramento area Fire Departments, the Sacramento Police Department, the Sheriff’s Department and more than 2,000 local volunteers, a 5K run/walk has been organized as an addition to their third annual 9/11 Memorial Climb, in which 343 firefighters – the number of New York firefighters killed on 9/11 – climb the Renaissance Tower in downtown Sacramento to honor fallen firefighters. “It’s very personal for the f

Firefighters responded to a fire near the intersection of N Seventh Street and Richards Boulevard at about 1 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

Friday marks the first day of the new fiscal year for the City of Sacramento – and the last day of work for more than 200 city employees, including 42 sworn police officers. The final city budget, which passed on June 21, included deep cuts to parks, libraries and public safety agencies and filled a $39 million budget gap. The budget did not pass without contention, however. Council members Angelique Ashby and Steve Cohn and Mayor Kevin Johnson each went against the budget, calling the cuts to public safety “drastic” and creating a 6-3 split vote. “These cuts to public safety are too big. They’re way too big,” Ashby said. “Why would we cut more than we have to?” During the proceedings

Three hundred and forty three Sacramento area firefighters climbed 110 flights of stairs early Saturday morning in honor of the 343 firefighters who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. The second annual Sacramento 9/11 Memorial Climb was held at the 28-story Renaissance Tower on 8th and K. Fire departments representing cities including Sacramento, Davis, El Cerrito, Placerville and Vacaville participated. Climbers made four ascents: three from the basement to the 26th floor, and a final ascent from the basement to the roof, bringing the total number of floors climbed to 110, the same number of floors in each of the towers of the World Trade Center

Boxing returned to Sacramento Saturday night with Battle of the Badges VII, an annual charity boxing event featuring correctional officers, police officers and firefighters from the Northern California area. Fifteen bouts of three two-minute rounds took place in front of an estimated 2,000-3,000 boxing fans at Memorial Auditorium, benefiting such charities as the Firefighters Burn Institute, Sac Fallen Officers Resource Fund, The Sacramento Sheriff’s Toy Project and Sacramento SPCA. Some agencies represented in the matches included the Sacramento and Vallejo fire departments; the Sacramento, Davis and Woodland police departments; the California Highway Patrol and California State Prison,

Wednesday, Oct. 21 1:30 - 3 p.m. Firestar Productions will be filming a California Firefighters Conference video. The crew of about six will be filming near the south steps and south lawn area of the Capitol. 5 - 9 p.m. The California State Library will hold their monthly "Food For Thought" event at the California History Room, room 200 of the Library & Courts Building II at 900 N Street. Held the third Wednesday of each month, the free event features a film, refreshments and discussion. This week's film is Young Frankenstein. About 80 people will attend the screening. Thursday, Oct. 22 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. The California Afterschool Network will be holding their annual "Lights On Aftersch

Once the sun set in West Sacramento, the stage lights flickered on and the red boxing gloves came up.  Saturday's Raley Field Rumble pitted firefighters, corrections officers and law enforcement officers from all over Northern California against one another, all in the name of Sacramento charities. "We like to support different charities each year," said Isreal Montes Jr., creator of the event. "We keep it local in Sacramento.  This year we're supporting the Firefighters Burn Institute, Sheriff Toy Project and Sacramento Fallen Officers Resource Fund." Correction officers Montes and Yvonne Vasquez, from California State Prison Sacramento, started the city's "Battle of the Badges" in 200

  Sacramento, CA- Early Thursday after noon, a small blaze broke out off of Hing Avenue, near Franklin and 47th. The fire was contained to the dry field area between the homes and railroad tracks.   Light Rail service was minimally impacted. Trains were briefly delayed during the high part of the blaze then permitted to move through at a reduced speed due to limited visibility resulting from heavy smoke, per on scene RT rail worker. Several structure firefighting engines were in place to protect the homes along the field, while brush rigs and crews moved through the field to attack the fire and bring it under control. Per Captain Doucette, the cause of the fire is unknown.  

The Sacramento City Council is about 99 percent sure that no firefighters will be laid off this week. The local firefighters’ union and city officials reached a breakthrough in negotiations Wednesday and have made a tentative agreement to not lay off 68 firefighters. The last step will be for Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 members to vote on the agreement this week. It is likely that Local 522 members will vote in favor of the agreement because they proposed it to city officials. While dozens of firefighter jobs are likely to be saved, about 180 city workers in other departments still face layoffs on Thursday, according to Assistant City Manager Gus Vina. Several councilmembers

The Rancho Murieta training facility was a disaster scene this past week. Firefighters collaborated on an Urban Search and Rescue mission to carefully extract victims stranded in cars crushed under debris. The victims in this case, mannequins, were successfully removed from the wreckage. Firefighters treat this simulation as an actual disaster so they will be prepared when they get the call. For the past four years, firefighters from all over California have been gathering in the Sacramento area for a heavy equipment and rigging training course that culminated this past Wednesday. L.A. City, L.A. County, Oakland, Elk Grove, Roseville, Sacramento City and the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire

The City Council has changed its original plan to lay off 168 workers Friday, and now layoffs are expected to take place in about two weeks, according to acting city spokeswoman Wendy Klock-Johnson. The number of layoffs is in flux and may soon change depending on negotiations with five city unions. On Tuesday, the city adopted its 2009/2010 fiscal year budget and closed out a gap of more than $43 million. The budget that was approved comes with major cuts to city services. Changes to the budget will be amendments because the budget has been adopted. City officials continued to say Tuesday that many cuts and layoffs could be averted if the unions make concessions. Negotiations between

Early Tuesday evening, Roseville fire department was called the apartments on Woodcreek Oaks Blvd., south of Junction Blvd., in Roseville for a fire. When fire crews arrived, high flames and smoke were coming from backside of one of the back buildings in the complex. Several apartment units in the building were involved by the time the fire was brought under control. This was a four alarm fire which even brought units from Placerville Fire Department. While it was initially believed that this was a barbeque fire that ignited the patio, the actual cause of the blaze is under investigation and fire investigators were searching the area for a youth to question. There were no injuries, howe

Fallen soldier, Staff Sgt. Bryan Hall, was welcomed home today. Hall was returned from overseas to Dover Air Force Base, then flown to Sacramento Executive Airport this morning. A procession followed Hall’s hearse from the airport to south Highway 99 and ended at Elk Grove Funeral Chapel. Staff Sgt. Hall was killed in Iraq with four other soldiers when an explosive laden truck careened through an Iraqi police headquarters. Community members lined the freeway and side roads waving flags and welcoming our fallen soldier home; but perhaps the most striking exhibit was the firefighters and apparatus that could be clearly seen atop every freeway overpass on the route. If you knew nothing abou

Yesterday the Sacramento City Council voted to try and find additional funds to prevent closing a second fire engine in the Sacramento Fire Department. The City Council, Mayor, and the City Manager are all working very hard to try and avoid this additional engine closure. The task they have is very difficult. I have been bombarded with questions and comments pertaining to our Fire Department. People ask me on the street, readers comment in newspapers, and I receive telephone calls. Most of the people I speak with appreciate the job that your Sacramento Firefighters do, but many do not understand how or why we operate the way we do. The Fire Service, including your Sacramento Fire Departme

Yesterday afternoon I had just sat down for Coffee at Peet’s on J Street with two of our Battalion Chiefs when the call came in for the apartment fire on H Street. The two Chiefs and I responded and were on scene right after the first arriving fire company. Heavy fire was engulfing the upper floor of the Victorian building. It was a good thing that our Firefighters were able to arrive on scene in about two minutes! A second alarm was requested and our Firefighters went to work protecting the two adjacent buildings and attacking the main body of the fire. It took a few minutes but our crews were able to knock down the fire and prevent it from spreading to the adjacent buildings and to the