City Council Authorizes Fire Department's Request to Join New Training Entity

The Pasadena City Council Feb. 4 approved a request by the Pasadena Fire Department for authorization to join a new government agency dedicated to training firefighters on a regional basis.
The department had proposed joining what is known as the Los Angeles Regional Training Group – Joint Powers Authority, as the best way to maintain the status quo when it comes to seasoning its recruits.
The City Council’s action authorized the pursuit of that membership.
In recent years, the Pasadena Fire Department had been participating in the Regional Training Group (RTG), which coordinates exercises and operations on an extra-municipal basis, forging cooperation between neighboring city fire departments.
A City staff report observed that outcomes from the effort, “have been remarkable in comparison to what independent fire departments can accomplish on their own.”
The fly in the ointment has been that the RTG is dependent on funding from the federal Department of Homeland Security; funding that has been reduced by some $60 million over the past three years.
The RTG needs government partners since the federal grants require application and administration by government agencies. As such, the RTG is transitioning to the status of government agency so that it can formulate its own applications and administer its own programs.
The Pasadena Fire Department’s request was approved Feb. 4, first by the City’s public safety committee and later that day by the full City Council, based on an affirmative staff recommendation.
Coincidentally, on the same day, the Pasadena Fire Department welcomed 17 new recruits, the largest such class in its history.