Escambia Fire Cancel Culture Striking IAFF Local 4131 Company Logos

Please take a moment to share your support for them, and aid in placing the brakes on the Escambia County Culture to Cancel the Hearts & Soul of the Fire Department.

The following text is taken directly from the Escambia County Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 4131 Facebook Page.

STATEMENT FROM ESCAMBIA COUNTY PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS, IAFF LOCAL 4131

Escambia County Professional Firefighters are deeply disappointed and frustrated with the continued gross misconduct and misplaced priorities of County Administration. Today, the Fire Chief—at the direction of downtown administration—ordered all Escambia County Fire Rescue personnel to remove company patches from fire apparatus.

This directive is not only unnecessary—it is a direct attack on the pride, identity, and morale of the firefighters who serve this community every single day.

These company patches are not decorations. They represent our stations, our neighborhoods, our history, and in many cases, our fallen brothers.

Station 17’s patch, for example, bears the initials of Lieutenant Terrell Jackson, who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

Removing these patches is removing a piece of who we are and striking at the very esprit de corps that binds our firefighters together.

To our knowledge, there have been zero complaints regarding any company patch throughout the history of Escambia County Fire Rescue.

All patches have been approved through Fire Administration and have consistently been positive conversation starters, receiving praise from both firefighters and members of the public.

To make this even more hypocritical, Fire Administration requested copies of every company patch in 2023 so the patches could be reproduced and displayed on the walls inside Fire Administration.

The Public Safety PIO even assisted Fire Administration by digitizing each company patch for Administration. The same patches the County wanted to showcase in their own building are now being stripped from the apparatus our firefighters ride into emergencies every day.

Instead of targeting issues that have zero impact on public safety, we urge County leadership to focus on the problems that actually matter:

• Fix our pay. The 3% COLA increase—approved by the Board on October 16th—has still not been paid to firefighters. All required HR actions were completed by October 21st, yet the approval was held up in the Budget Office until November 3rd, causing the payroll deadline of October 29th to be missed.

Now, firefighters will not see their COLA until November 21st—over a month late. The County told Local 4131 that members would receive the COLA no later than November 7th, yet again failing to follow through on their word.

Update Risk Management’s outdated 1998 policy. One firefighter who was injured in the line of duty is being denied light-duty work and now faces termination when his FMLA expires.

Local 4131 is tired of downtown leadership prioritizing control and optics over the health, safety, and welfare of the firefighters who keep this county running.

We will not sit quietly while administration ignores real issues, undermines morale, and disrespects the men and women who respond when the public needs us most.

We stand ready to work toward solutions—if the County will finally stop creating problems and start addressing them.