Prov. Fire Truck Controversy: Chief Clamps Down
Friday, January 07, 2011
The city firefighters’ union is blasting Fire Chief George Farrell for new restrictions he has imposed on the use of fire trucks.
Farrell has barred any fire truck or other department vehicle from leaving city stations for anything other than a fire, station cleaning, official training, or refueling—unless authorized by a chief officer.
Farrell tells GoLocalProv that the strict rules are necessary to prevent the misuse of city property.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBut members of the union, Local 799 of the International Association of Firefighters, say the new rules affect their ability to do their job, get to know the neighborhood around the station, and shop for food during shifts that can stretch into 24 or 38 hours if they are ordered to work overtime.
‘Everything is soured between the administration and firefighters’
The order has caused a new rift between the chief and rank-and-file members of the department, union members tell GoLocalProv. “Now everything is soured between the administration and firefighters,” said Lt. Elliot Murphy.
Prior to the restriction—which the union calls a “lockdown”—union officials say firefighters were allowed to grab a cup of coffee or lunch on their way back from a fire or other official businesses. It’s better to do that as a team, when they are all together with their fire engine or truck, according to union President Paul Doughty. The alternative—letting an individual firefighter leave the station alone in his own car—raises liability issues and could affect a fire company's ability to respond to a fire, Doughty said.
Farrell says firefighters should go shopping on their own time—before they arrive at work. Doughty says that just isn’t practical for firefighters who work 24 hours or more in a row. “I’m not going to pack three lunches,” he said.
‘Lockdown’ affects local businesses, communities
Murphy and Doughty said the so-called lockdown also limits the ability of new firefighters to familiarize themselves with the surrounding neighborhood. “If you can’t go out there and learn the district how are you going to operate when the calls come in?” Murphy said.
He said it also sends the wrong message to the community. “The chief wants us to stay in the building with the doors closed,” Murphy said. “What does that tell the community when you can’t even open the door? … It doesn’t give them the sense that we’re part of the community.”
Limiting shopping and coffee breaks also takes an economic toll on local markets and mom and pop stores, according to Murphy. Before the new rules took effect—in late August—he said firefighters spent an average of $6 a day on food and other basic necessities. With a force of about 390 active firefighters that adds up to more than $800,000 a year.
But local businesses aren’t entirely missing out. Since the “lockdown,” Murphy said the firefighters at his Admiral Street station have had meals delivered to the station.
Two city councilmen have weighed in on the controversy, asking Farrell to rescind the order. “It has been brought to our attention that the Fire Department’s ‘lockdown’ policy has had many negative effects, including disconnecting firefighters from the community they serve, lost economic activity, and poorer overall fire protection,” Councilmen Miguel Luna and Davian Sanchez wrote in a Dec. 30 letter. “We feel that there is no tangible benefit to the lockdown order and respectfully request that it be rescinded as soon as possible.”
Providence firefighters shopping… in Cranston
Farrell said he decided to tighten the rules after firefighters had abused them. Over the summer, he said he had been sent a photograph of Providence firefighters in Cranston loading pallets of sodas into a fire truck. “I can’t have people decide it’s OK to do what they want with the fire trucks,” Farrell said. “To have fire apparatus going around the city shopping … that’s not OK.”
In another incident, he said firefighters parked a truck on a busy street next to a coffee shop in downtown Providence, impeding the flow of traffic.
Before issuing his order, Farrell said he gave firefighters plenty of warnings which went unheeded. “We’re enforcing the rules because of the abuse,” Farrell said. “My job is to manage this department as best as I can and to enforce the rules and regulations.”
When GoLocalProv asked Fire Departments in other communities what their policies are, the response was mixed. In Warwick, for example, firefighters cannot go shopping in fire trucks. In East Providence, however, they can, as long as they’re returning from a fire or refueling trip, according to Chief Joseph Klucznik.
‘He didn’t want anything embarrassing to happen to the mayor’
Doughty said he was not aware of the Cranston shopping incident, but he questioned why those firefighters were disciplined instead of punishing everyone in the department.
He claims that the real motive behind the new restrictions—which were issued just weeks before then-Mayor David Cicilline faced a primary—is political. Doughty said the chief told him as much in a conversation. “He said he didn’t want anything embarrassing to happen to the mayor and as soon as the election was over he would relax it,” Doughty recalled. (Farrell did not respond to a request for further comment.)
The last time there was a “lockdown” was in June 2009 after the union picketed Cicilline. “When we started picketing him, he picked on us,” Murphy said.
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