THE CITY OF WARREN, OHIO, LAID OFF AN ENTIRE ENGINE company, 11 firefighters, back in January and closed a firehouse. Tuesday morning a fire started before daybreak at a group-care home located just a couple of blocks away from the shuttered fire station. The blaze, later determined to be an arson, was set on the front porch and was discovered by a passerby who was delivering newspapers. She found a policeman and reported the fire to him, and he radioed in the alarm.
Vindicator / Yosay photo
Then the police officer went to the house and started banging on the door to roust the caretaker who let him in. By then the fire had alreadyextended into the building. The two of them went upstairs to get the three mentally-handicapped residents and started to lead them to safety when the fire cut them off. The caretaker was in a different stairwell and she escaped, but the policeman and three patients were trapped and in a desperate situation. By then the town’s two remaining engines and ladder truck had been dispatched.
When the FD arrived on the scene they had to concentrate on rescuing the four victims, which they heroically accomplished. All four of them are in critical condition and the policeman is in an induced coma, although breathing on his own.
“He’s a very brave, dedicated police officer, and we just pray to God he’s going to survive these injuries,” Police Chief Tim Bowers said Tuesday afternoon.
IAFF Local president Mark Titus said he is frustrated firefighters were unable to get to the blaze any sooner. He said closing of the nearby fire station on Atlantic Street Northeast because of manpower issues slowed response time by three to four minutes. “If that station was open, this would not have happened. He would not have had to go in there,” Titus said.
When the 11 firefighters were laid off in January, the remaining force agreed to a pay freeze this year. Just last week on Monday, April 20, the FF’s were called into the mayor’s office and given an ultimatum. They were told that if they didn’t now agree to a pay cut, then another 15 firefighters would be laid off immediately.
The Local then went public, approaching the newspaper and local radio and tv stations where they let told of this latest arm-twisting by the mayor. The mayor then became angered that they disclosed this gambit declaring, “This is a private matter that should be kept private.” (Firegeezer is willing to bet that the taxpayers have a different opinion on that.)
Today we see why the mayor is disappointed that his plans became known.
Read the details of yesterday’s fire and rescue in the Youngstown Vindicator HERE.
IAFF Local 204 WEBSITE.
Addendum:
This fire occurred just four hours after a similar event in Flint, Michigan, where a man died in a fire and three FF’s were burned trying to rescue him. The FF’s had arrived on a ladder truck and had no water because their engine was shut down due to layoffs that took place this past Sunday. STATter911 has the full story on this tragedy HERE.
Hat tip to Jim McC.
