Connecticut Firefighters Say Equipment Isn't Safe

[CTFF 65]

Connecticut Firefighters Say Equipment Isn't Safe

By FRANK MacEACHERN

Courtesy of The Stamford Times

STAMFORD -- The city is jeopardizing volunteer firefighters safety by not providing up-to-date breathing equipment, claims the Springdale Fire Company in a lawsuit it filed June 8 against Stamford.

A hearing on the application is scheduled for July 23.

The fire company says the city is falling short on its responsibilities to its volunteer firefighters by not spending money to update the department's self-contained breathing equipment. The equipment has a life span of 15 years and expired in 2005.

Springdale Fire Chief Shawn Fahan said he doesn't understand why the city isn't springing for the money.

"I find it hard to believe the way the city is playing with peoples lives like this,'' said Fahan.

Mayor Dannel Malloy rejected the department's contentions. He said the city is adequately funding the department and that safety for Sprindale residents has improved since full-time firefighters were placed at the fire house.

"The leadership of the department is out of step with the people in their geographic region," he said.

The immediate concern is the air bottles which supply oxygen to firefighters. There are two air bottles for each air pack and the fire company should have 40 bottles, said Fahan. During the last few years the department has been eliminating bottles which no longer can be safely used. The department is down to about 30 bottles which Fahan said is barely enough to outfit the department's five emergency vehicles. The department also has two utility pickup trucks. Additionally the city supplies one fire truck.

In an emergency Fahan said they can call on other fire departments through mutual aid to provide the bottles. As well, they can refill the bottles back at the department's base.

The company met with the city last year and asked for money to replace a vehicle exhaust system and for 20 bottles. Fahan said the city approved the money for the exhaust system but tabled the request for the bottles.

He said they are reluctantly going ahead with the lawsuit because the city hasn't agreed to go through mediation to resolve the issue.

Malloy said the department has about $400,000 in its fundraising budget and that's where the money should come from.

Fahan rejected that. He said that money is an emergency fund for big ticket items, such as new emergency vehicles, which can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"We have that money because we are fiscally responsible. It's not sitting there collecting dust," he said.

Fahan argued the city is required to pay for all costs associated with running the department according to a 1997 agreement between the two sides. The city funds the department but the chief has control of the employees and the fire house. The agreement is also part of the court challenge as the department claims the city has routinely violated the agreement. The city and the fire department have butted heads over control of the department during the last 10 years.

There are 16 full-time city firefighters based at the department in addition to the 23 volunteer firefighters.

[Guest partyrock]

And so it begins. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and compromise can win out over this growing fight.

[Geppetto 31]

If only the newspapers would report the whole story.