THE TOWN OF RANDOLPH, MASSACHUSETTS, HAD TO CANCEL their fireworks display that had been scheduled for Thursday night.  Many of the townspeople are blaming the firefighters because of what many perceive as a job action.

The Mass. state fire marshal requires that public fireworks displays, no matter what size, have a dedicated fire company on standby at the event.  However, Wednesday afternoon Randolph’s fire chief announced that he could not issue a fireworks permit because none of the town’s firefighters would volunteer for the detail.

Randolph FF’s have been working without a contract for about a year and talks have been stalemated.  In the previous years the FF’s association has sponsored the fireworks by soliciting the funds for the show and seeing that it goes on, including volunteering for the standby.  But earlier this year they told the town council that they would not do it this year. (Click on the Local’s website below to read their explanation.)

The business community went out and raised the money for the display, but the FF’s all said that they wanted to enjoy the holiday at home with their families like everybody else does.

When the Boston Globe asked Ronald Cassford, the president of the Randolph local, if the contentious contract talks was the reason for the cancellation, he said: 

“Well, it’s one of many reasons.  It’s not the main reason. When we decided not to do it, a number of our individuals who take part in our volunteering decided that they weren’t going to do it this year. When I talk about people who’ve been doing it in the past few years, participation has been declining over the years, anyway. The selectmen used the term boycott. It was just a number of individuals who decided not to participate. We’ve been without a contract since June of last year.”

Now the firefighters are disliked and the town selectmen are embarrassed.  Keep an eye on the contract talks now.

The Boston Globe story is HERE.
Randolph Fire Dept. WEBSITE.
Local 1268 WEBSITE.

WFXT has the video report:

THE CITY OF MANASSAS, VIRGINIA, HAS CREATED A NEW FIRE AND RESCUE AGENCY.  The historic city is located in Prince William County just outside of Washington, D. C.  Francis J. Teevan, the city’s Chief Fire Marshal issued this press release today:

The newest fire and rescue department in the Commonwealth of Virginia became operational on Tuesday, July 1, 2008.

City Manager Lawrence D. Hughes and several members of the Manassas City Council hosted a “kick-off” breakfast for the new department at City Tavern this morning.

The Department provides fire and EMS personnel on three 24-hour shifts to staff an engine, medic units, and a specialized rescue squad. Members also provide staffing for a tower ladder from 7:00am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday.

Volunteers from the Manassas Volunteer Fire Company and Greater Manassas Rescue Squad provide additional staffing at night, and on weekends, and holidays.

The city created a new fire district and added a 10-cent fire and rescue levy to the 2009 budget in order to help finance the new department.

In March of 2008, the city council approved the immediate hiring of five firefighters, a fire and rescue chief and an administrative associate IV. Eleven more fire and rescue positions were approved for funding in the 2009 budget but will not be hired until the new chief develops and presents an action plan for the department.

The city is currently reviewing applications for the chief’s position and city manager Lawrence D. Hughes expects to fill the position by late summer.

Manassas City Fire and Rescue Department
Office of the Fire Marshal
9027 Center Street
Manassas, Virginia 20110

JOLIET, ILLINOIS, IS LOOKING FOR A NEW FIRE CHIEF for the fourth time in four years.  The current chief Rich Marose will be announcing his retirement today after holding the chief’s job for just 10 months.  This follows the disclosure of a police report of a “suspicious incident” this past weekend involving Chief Morose and a woman in a parking lot at 1:45 am.

Chief Marose

Morose says that the recent escapade has nothing to do with his sudden plans to leave.  He says that it was his intention all along to retire once he reached the age of 50.  That was news to the Joliet City Council who were expecting him to serve at least 5 years on the job when they appointed him last year.

Joliet has a history of fire chief instability.  In 1998 FC Larry Walsh was forced out after an investigation surfaced involving his son’s business dealing with the city.  Walsh’s successor was Joseph Drick who lasted 6 years before he was indicted on a financial scam that ended up with both him and his wife being sent to prison in 2004.

The next three years saw two more fire chiefs come and go.  While neither was caught up in anything criminal, they both bailed out of the job in short order.  It was then that Morose took the office.  Now they’re looking again.

City Councilman Michael Turk said it’s time to bring stability to the leadership of the fire department.  “With the next chief,” Turk said, “I think we have to say, ‘Hey, we want you to stick around.’”

The Herald News has the latest STORY.
Joliet Fire Department WEBSITE.

FOR THE SECOND TIME IN LESS THAN A MONTH, THE ACTING FIRE CHIEF Jim Evans of Austin, Texas, has fired one of his lieutenants.

Chief Jim Evans

In a 7-page memo, Evans said that among other charges,  Lt. Christopher Giberson consistently harassed female firefighters by calling them “denigrating nicknames,” repeatedly sent or viewed pornography on city computers and advised the apparent intoxicated driver in a car accident to tell police that he hadn’t been drinking.

“There are no words to adequately describe how offended and disappointed I am by this behavior,” Evans wrote in the memo. “His behavior is lewd, disgusting and has no place in the Fire Department.”  Gilberson had been on the Department for 14 years.

This follows last month’s dismissal of a lieutenant who delayed his engine’s response to a medic assist for two minutes while he went next door to pick up a food order at a restaurant.

The Austin American-Statesman has the full STORY.
KTBC has a video report:

Austin Fire Department WEBSITE.

BACK IN DECEMBER THERE WAS A NATIONWIDE FOCUS on a situation in San Antonio, Texas, when an ambulance crew left an alive woman for dead in a wrecked auto.

Briefly, after a head-on crash, three victims from one car were being treated by the San Antonio Fire and Rescue paramedics.  One of the passengers was presumed to be dead, so they covered her with a body tarp and concentrated on treating the other two women who had “non-life threatening” injuries.

After everybody from fire and rescue had left the scene, one of the police officers saw the “dead” woman breathe.  A coroner’s deputy on the scene called for an ambulance.  This was two hours later.  She later died at the hospital.

Yesterday it was announced that three of the paramedics involved have had their paramedic licenses suspended by the state health board for 12 months.

KABB-TV San Antonio has a video report of yesterday’s actions:

The 11-page state disciplinary action notice is HERE (.pdf document).

TWO FIREFIGHTERS FROM THE ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, Fire Department are out of a job today following their dismissal Friday morning.

Bill Martinez was an instructor conducting a 9-month paramedic course that was designed to upgrade firefighters to the paramedic level.  An investigation revealed that he had leaked the state final examination ahead of time to FF Alena Apodaca.

Both of them met with AFD Chief Robert Ortega Friday morning and he took the action to separate them from the department.

KOB Ch. 4 has a video report:

Albuquerque Fire Department WEBSITE.

THE NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL 140 is balloting its 1,400 members with a vote of no-confidence of their Fire Chief Stephen Halford.

Chief Stephen Halford
(WSMV photo)

Publicly, their grievance stems from the Chief’s plans to eliminate 49 FF positions in order to fund the addition of three more ambulances to the EMS service.

“They’re very, very upset,” said Doug Conquest, president of Nashvile Firefighters and Fire Service Employees Association Local 140. “We’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. We (cut back) a division to increase another division.  We feel like in the long term this is going to affect the safety and property of Nashvillians in Davidson County,” he said.

Local 140 president Doug Conquest

The union had a proposal for a way to save the money without eliminating the jobs, but the city would not listen to their options.

Chief Halford says the outcome of the vote won’t have an impact on his job or budget plans.  He says it’s simply a way for the union to voice it’s dissatisfaction.
 

The ballots went out in the mail this week and they should be returned and counted by the end of next week.

WTVF Ch. 5 has a good report on the situation HERE.

WZTV Ch. 17 interviews both Chief Halford and Pres. Conquest in this video report:

Firegeezer notes that while this seems to be an extreme reaction to budget cuts, there is usually a lot more behind the grievance besides the public declaration.

THE NEVER-ENDING LABOR-MANAGEMENT CONFLICT in Topeka, Kansas, carries on anew this weekend.  Fire Chief Howard Giles announced on Friday that he thinks the FF’s are using too much sick leave and is wondering if some of them are calling in sick when they are really fit for duty.

The Union Local 83, that voted overwhelmingly last year to present a notice of “no confidence” in the chief, says that he’s full of crackers.

Chief Giles presented an outline of the department’s rather complicated scheme of minimum staffing policies and complained that the sick leave has over-extended the overtime budget.  The Local says that he’s just picking and choosing selected facts to bolster his conclusion.

Chief Giles explains the “If this happens,
then that happens.” staffing policy.
(Capital-Journal photo)

If you have the time to read it and make sense of the FD’s policy, read the article in the Topeka Capital-Journal HERE.

Topeka Fire Dept. WEBSITE.
Local 83 WEBSITE.

WITH MONTREAL, QUEBEC’s, HOCKEY TEAM  long gone from the playoff scene, the Fire Department labor/management fingerpointing is going in a new direction this week.

Working without a contract for 17 months and a contentious negotiating program, the FF’s union is deflecting the latest problem onto City Hall.

Since the 22 departments within the greater Montreal limits were merged into one department 6 years ago, there have been NO fire-safety inspections of any buildings in the city.

“It’s worrying because there are no real objectives or goals for inspecting buildings in Montreal,” the city’s auditor-general Michel Doyon said at a news conference to present his findings. Inspections would ensure buildings have unobstructed fire exits and all necessary smoke detectors, sprinklers and extinguishers, and that flammable products are stored properly, he said.

Fire inspectors issued no tickets to building owners for safety violations from 2003 to 2006 after issuing 497 in 2002.  The FF’s union claims that the department is short 500  people, so there are not enough to fulfill the inspection program.

A just-released report from the city’s auditor-general also disclosed that of the 772 City employees that earned over $100,000 last year, nearly a third of them, 202 work for the fire department.  And most of them are fire captains working under the labor contract.

The crux of the problem is the mandated method of calling back captains at overtime pay to fill a vacancy instead of using on-duty firefighters to fill in as a detail assignment.  The union says it has been trying to get the City to adopt the more reasonable method  of fill-ins, but the City claims that they can’t because of a pending grievance that was filed nearly two years ago (!) and hasn’t yet been solved.

Read the full report in today’s Montreal Gazette HERE.

STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, RELIES ON FIVE VOLUNTEER fire departments for its fire protection.  However, they also maintain a contingent of paid FF’s in them for consistent coverage.

One of these, the Springdale Fire Company, has been knotted with conflicts between the paid and the volunteer members during the past year.  Many instances of vandalism and thefts have occurred. 

Last month the volunteer organization approved the purchase and operation of a closed-circuit video surveillance system including 16 cameras both inside and outside the station.

The FF’s union has filed a grievance with the state labor board claiming that putting the cameras in the “private” areas, such as the day room, are too intrusive.

The Stamford Advocate writes:

Brendan Keatley, president of Stamford Professional Fire Fighter’s Association, said placing surveillance cameras in private areas where firefighters relax and eat meals adds to the harassment that paid firefighters have endured.

“They have been unjustly accused by people in Springdale of things they didn’t do,” he said. “It’s just been a constant pattern of employee harassment. They want us out.”

Keatley said he has no objection to cameras being placed in the garage, parking lot or work areas. 

Their definition of vandalism seems to be rather broad.  The only specific given to the newspaper reporter was an instance where the volume control knob on the radio console was pulled off and then replaced a few minutes later.  They referred to that as “disabling the radio system.”

Read the Advocate’s full story HERE.
Springdale Fire Company WEBSITE.

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, MAYOR JOE RILEY announced yesterday that he has appointed Fire Department Assistant Chief Ronnie Classen to serve as acting fire chief after current chief Rusty Thomas retires next month.

Chief Ronnie Classen

Classen has worked for the Charleston FD for 37 years and will fill the position on an interim basis until the city hires a full-time chief later in the year.

Following the release of two reports that are severely critical of the fire department, the City of Charleston has hired an executive recruitment firm to launch a nationwide search for applicants.

Chief Classen had already planned several months ago to retire and will do so after the new appointee takes the office.

Today’s Post and Courier has the full STORY.

WHEN RICHARD SANDERS, 54, REPORTED FOR HIS 7:00 pm to 7:00 am shift at the Welsh Ambulance Service, he had a plan on how to make it through the tough night.

Around midnight two of his colleagues were walking to their ambulance to respond to an emergency when they noticed one of the other ambulances running inside the bay.  Looking in the back of the ambulance, they saw Sanders laying on his back on the stretcher administering nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to himself and seemingly enjoying it immensely.

When asked what he was doing, his speech was slurred and when he tried to walk away his gait was wobbly.  The 10-year medic was relieved of his duties right away.

The event happened 26 months ago, on March 2006, but in a typical example of bureaucratic speed, it was just yesterday that he was stricken from the Health Service rolls as a paramedic.  While it took them 26 months to remove him, he has only 28 days to appeal it.

icWales has the REPORT.
Welsh Ambulance Service WEBSITE.