Fire rift escalates as Springdale chief locks out four

[T. John 21]

Fire rift escalates as Springdale chief locks out four

By Donna Porstner

Staff Writer

December 23, 2007

Stamford Advocate

STAMFORD - Springdale Fire Chief Shawn Fahan locked paid firefighters out of the firehouse last night over a spat about which radio system to use.

Fire Chief Robert McGrath said four of the paid firefighters assigned to that firehouse were returning from a call at about 6 p.m. when they found the entrance to the garage barricaded.

"When they returned, Shawn Fahan pulled the ladder truck -the engine - and put his personal chief's truck where engine No. 7 would normally enter. When they asked what was going on, he told them they had to leave," said McGrath, who arrived on the scene after being summoned by Deputy Fire Chief David Jones.

"Evidently, the fire chief (Fahan) and one of the captains . . . had a dispute over which of the radios they were using and locked our people out of the building," McGrath said in a telephone interview last night.

Firefighters have two radio systems - an 800-megahertz system and a 154-megahertz system - because the radio coverage in Springdale can be spotty.

"It was a miscommunication, actually," McGrath said.

Fahan did not return phone calls at the firehouse seeking comment last night and no one answered the telephone at his home or his cell phone.

Fire union Vice President David Davis, who had responded to the scene at the firehouse, said Fahan was the only one there when he arrived. The four paid firefighters had gone to the nearby Stamford Twin Rinks parking lot to wait for fire officials.

Davis said Fahan was upset because the paid firefighters weren't using the 154-megahertz system used by the volunteers.

Fahan said one paid firefighter, a captain, was disobeying his command to stay on the air as he responded to a routine alarm call in Glenbrook, Davis said.

When responding to calls out of district, paid firefighters often press a button on a laptop computer connected to the dispatch center to keep radio traffic at a minimum, Davis said.

"Chief Fahan basically said, 'If you cannot follow my directives, you will leave my firehouse,' " Davis said.

Davis said a disagreement over whether all four were ordered to leave or just the captain was part of the confrontation.

Police also were called to the scene.

"It sounds like our involvement was quite limited," said police spokesman Lt. Sean Cooney, who was not present but was briefed on the incident. "I don't even know what the dispute was about or how it was resolved."

Police Chief Brent Larrabee and city Director of Public Safety, Health and Welfare William Callion reportedly also were on scene but could not be reached for comment last night.

For years, the city has staffed the Springdale firehouse with paid personnel who report to McGrath but take direction from top-ranking volunteers at fire scenes.

The arrangement is a model Mayor Dannel Malloy is trying to emulate by making the paid firefighters at the Belltown, Glenbrook and the Turn of River fire departments employees of Stamford Fire and Rescue under McGrath's command.

The Turn of River volunteer department is fighting the merger in court.

Malloy could not be reached for comment last night.

The Springdale firehouse is not part of the planned merger of the paid and volunteer fire systems but has a long history of tension between its members and the city's paid fire personnel.

By the time McGrath left the firehouse last night, Fahan had allowed the paid firefighters back into the building, and McGrath said the dispute was resolved. McGrath said he other city officials plan to sit down with the Springdale volunteers and the fire union to address the dispute during a meeting the first week of January.

"I'm hoping we can work things out with the volunteers to provide the fire protection in the district to keep everyone safe," McGrath said. There won't be any confusion over which radio system to use once the new radio system is up and running in the spring, he said.

Davis said the dispute, which began at about 5:30 p.m., was over by about 8 p.m.

"It was a least a two-hour ordeal," he said.

Copyright © 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.

[Guest]

This is a joke right? What is this guy like 12 years old?

[Guest]

The radios situation @ E7 is rough. The MDT is perfect for minimizing radio traffic and spotty coverage. Oh yeah, maybe there was a memo on SFRD preferring the MDT over radio traffic? What happens on the scene between your three radios and whoever is listening is up to you.

[x134 46]

No it's my sand box, No it's mine, no mine , no mine..... Come on what are we 12 years old? If it's that big of a deal write the guy up if you don't get anywhere with talking to him. You don't lock the guys out. Seems like there is more to the story.

[sr71 1]

The actions of the chief are childish and an extreme over reaction. The situation could have been handled diplomatically and everyone could have been siting down at the round table to figure this out. as a volunteer myself from the area I am appalled at the actions of not just the Springdale chief but the actions that the city has taken in the past. This has to be resolved in a way that the citizens are still the top priority and everyone can coexist in peace, to protect and save the lives of the citizens and visitors of the city of STAMFORD

Edited December 24, 2007 by sr71

[x635 4,066]

Can Springdale act in a mature manner at all? It seems like there have been repeated immature squablles caused by them over the past few years. It seems like they're more interested in conterversy rather then firefighting, or at least that's the image the leadership of Springdale gives them.

Can't the Mayor just say "Enough is enough" and shut down Springdale already? I don't know how Stamford has it worked out, but can't they just stop dispatching Springdale?

The drama in Stamford needs to stop. Egos need to be put aside, and fire protection needs to be the priority. Career firefighters aren't evil, and aren't doing anything with an alterior motive. There is really nothing to gain from a larger local, as many speculate. I have spoken with the head of Local 786, and he's truly concerned about the safety of his firefighters and the citizens of Stamford. If you have a volunteer CHIEF that behaves in that manner, what could happen on a fire scene?

In a combination system, it never works out when volunteers command career staff. Say what you want, but being a career firefighter and a volunteer firefighter in some respects are two different things. I don't mean that in a bad way. Career firefighters work and live together, and have a different working relationship together then volunteers do. It's just the nature of the job. Someone who's a volunteer can't just come in and start bossing around someone who's doing it for a living, and has a totally different experience level and background-and is also held to a different standard. Do you think that a career Chief could get away with this time and time again? I believe that the City Of Stamford should have a unified career system, led by a unified Career Incident Command staff, which can be supplemented by volunteer officers and firefighters. There's too many Chiefs, and too few indians, so to speak.

[DR104 141]

WOW. I do not want to be around that chief Christmas morning when he gets a gift he doesn't like or wants. LOL!! unbelievable!!! They should take his chief car and his rank of chief!!

[dartnk45 11]

this feud has been going on for the past few years like an earlery post stated. my father was a paid driver for springdale from 1985- 1997 when the chief at that time went to the city and asked them for help because the dept was not getting the volunteer responce to the calls any more. so the city placed 8 SFRD personal in combanation with the 8 springdale paid firefighters to make the 16 SFRD presonal that are stationed their now. since the merger my father and other orignal Springdale firefighters have transfered out of the station because of the feuded that has arised with in the station. since the present Chief has taken power the ordeals with the voulenteer and Paid staff have gotten worse and worse. I too would like the city to stop dispatching the Volunteers from springdale to calls or even shut them down. I just hope that the city takes action before someone gets hurt in the firehouse or even worse at a fire scene

[OLDGUY19 6]

AS much as I Hate to say it,This is a Career VS Volunteer issue. when you have a combined dept or add career staff there will never ever be respect, on both side of the fence.There is no trust between the two systems. I have seen it first hand working in the Greenwich Fire Dept for over twenty years.Career staff want Four firefigters on a rig to operate safely in a timely manner.And what is wrong with that.And the Volunteers want to still help their community and there is nothing wrong with that. If it is run in a organized manner.Anybody saying any different is only fooling themself's and trying to fool the community in which they serve.The Ego's only care about themselfs not the firefigther who has to turn the corner with the knob or cut the roof or the public who they are swore to protect.These power struggles only make things harder for all party's. Maybe Belltown Fire was right keep them separated and everybody do their jobs to the best they can.Everbody shoud read Goldfedner[ ie:THE SECRET LIST]take on staffing it is what we all should be trying to do any way.Sorry to say it but we will never ever agree.

[firefighter36 52]

Seth, excellent point on Career and Volunteer leadership and chain of command. Oldguy, nobody talks about staffing better than Goldfeder. I think the main thing is that if volunteer staffing or response is spotty or unreliable, than a rig that is "staffed" by career personnel should have at least 4 QUALIFIED individuals on it. Ultimately, we are at the mercy of a public budget and taxpayers, and we see that number reduced drastically, OR departments play the "cross-staffing" game (I.E, same two guys who will be on the ladder will also be on the ambulance (if your FD does EMS.)) Depending on the type of call, a rig is then unmanned for the next alarm. Regardless, cutting corners will not be called cutting corners until someone is hurt or killed. It is the reality of the fire service to be reactive.

As far as a command structure for a combination dept. My previous volunteer department before I was hired as a career firefighter had a rather good system. Career firefighters were under the command of a Battalion Chief. Volunteers were allowed to respond on a career staffed rig if they were QUALIFIED. Ride time and training under a BC was required. At all times, the volunteers were under the command of the rig's officer/ senior personnel.

With that, each of the 3 volunteer companies in the town (all who shared firehouses with career companies) had 1 or more rigs. Each company had (elected) a captain and 2 lieutenants, who were responsible for the volunteer staff, as well as apparatus and parts of the station. There was a great amount of accountability for Vol. Officers, just like their career counterparts. Reports were submitted both weekly an monthly, and it was not uncommon for Captains to be paged out by the BC or Chief of the Dept. for information, business, etc.

At a fire scene, the Vol. officers directed the volunteers and were given tasks on the fire ground by the IC. Vol. Manpower was paired up with Career as needed, and regardless of status, the tasks were always carried out and the job always got done safely and efficiently. There was some resentment between career and volunteer members, but it rarely if ever had anything to do with firefighting, it was merely 2 incompatible ego's and the career/volunteer banter was merely an easy way to point fingers.

Combination departments can work, it is all a matter of how they are run, and how people are managed. Obviously, this guy in Springdale hasn't a clue how to be patient with people, or how to manage them, and hopefully something gets done to see to it that he is reprimanded to acting so foolishly.

Just my two cents.

[x152 179]

SR71 - Why are you appalled at the actions of the Officer of the Engine Company? He followed his organization's procedures and utilized his mobile data terminal to advise dispatch of his status. This is somewhat redundant due to the fact that the Glenbrook Engine Co. has just (essentially) announced to dispatch "Engine 32 to Dispatch you can place a recall this incident and return all other units, holding Engine 32...." Dispatch then in-turn confirms the message by repeating it. Most normal people would now understand that to indicate that all other responding units were now in service, except the initial first-due Engine Co (Glenbrook Engine 32). Why the Company Officer of Engine 7 would then need to announce (again) over ANY radio that "Engine 7 is in service" is beyond me? The Company Officer then proceeds back to his station to find this:

or this:

or even this:

The white suburban is the Chief's vehicle and is placed directly in front of the bay where Engine 7 is normally parked. The snorkel is pulled out on the ramp to prevent Engine 7 from parking there and the old red pick-up is placed to prevent Engine 7 from parking in the firehouse driveway.

Rather than engage the "Chief", the Company Officer immediately notified his supervisor of the confrontation and removed the Engine Co. from the escalating environment and into a nearby parking lot to wait for his superiors to handle the situation (which they did). The pictures shown above were taken by a member of the Engine Co. just prior to their temporary relocation to the nearby parking lot. Just in case anyone wants to deny that the incident happened, perhaps the pictures might speak for themselves......

The Company Officer involved should be credited for his patience and for not allowing the confrontation that the "Chief" was clearly hoping for. This type of behavior should be an embarrassment to anyone involved in the fire service, whether paid, volunteer, junior, senior, officer, etc.

Edited December 23, 2007 by x152

[Geppetto 31]

Interesting photos x152 - Considering the probale time span for the actual alarm, I would have to say that the Chief was looking for any excuse to promote the argument. Although, he obviously must have had enough time to move all that equipment in the time it took to E-7 to return to quarters. Premeditated? It's too bad they can't actually respond with some of it to alarms.

[Guest]

First off, I agree the actions of the volunteer chief were wrong and unbefitting of a command officer volunteer or otherwise. In my opinion, the system of fire protection that the City of Stamford is using is and has been dangerously outdated. Putting Stamford career firefighters in the independant volunteer houses is just asking for these types of incidents to occur.

If these volunteer fire companies that are part of the City of Stamford are unable to effectively operate without career firefighters, then of course the career FF's need to be there. I guess my question is, why does it have to be Stamford's career FF's and not career FF's hired by each independant volunteer company?

The problem, as I see it, is that the Stamford career FF's don't have to take orders from the volunteer chief of the department that they are quartered at. Of course this settup is going to lead to butting of heads. If the career FF's at each volunteer company were hired by and employed by that company, then they would have to follow the guidelines and procedures of that company's volunteer chief officers.

I am by no means an expert, but if I were a Stamford resident I believe I would be very concerned with this system of fire protection. I think the powers that be need to decide whether consolidation into one fully career dept. or letting each volunteer company be charged with their own career staffing, as long as it is up to the standards set forth by the city, is the best path to take.

Unfortuneatly, incidents like this one will most likely continue until some type of action is taken and it is the residents(taxpayers) as well as the Stamford career FF's that are going to suffer as a result.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Simple solution: Call a wrecker. No parking in front of a firehouse. That would teach the Chief...

[dartnk45 11]

firetruck to answer your question the voulenteer houses in Stamford do have their own career personal except Springdale. Glenbrook, Belltown and Turn of River are all staffed by personnel that the indvidual depts have hired. the City of Stamford is trying to unify the career personal at these stations with the SFRD so that the City could save money on overtime and protect the citizens of the out laying parts of the City better. From what I have been told, the Glenbrook Fire Dept. has signed the agreement with the City to move 8-10 SFRD personnel into their station the first week in January, due to the fact that the Glenbrook Voulenteers could not get the response that they needed to protect the citizens of their district, with the addition of the SFRD personnel the Glenbrook Career satff would become SFRD firefighters and that the New Quint 6, that the City just purchased from HME, would be stationed there. I know that the SFRD guys that read this board like my uncle that is a LT downtown could shead more light on this than I can.

Edited December 24, 2007 by DOC22

[Guest]

Thank's for the info. I remember reading the Stamford F.D. profile in "Fire Apparatus Journal" a few years ago, and the info I've learned on this site. Just seems like a really overcomplicated system of operating to me.

[x635 4,066]

Thanks for sharing the photos, x152

I just wanted to clarify something I said above. There are places where combination departments do work, but I don't believe Stamford even qualifies as a combination department.

The issue with Stamford though is that there are 5 volunteer departments, each with it's own leadership, and a seperate career department, and then the career staffing mishmosh at the volunteer departments. All that complicates things exponetially, and makes a breeding ground for trouble. If Stamford unified their system, then maybe the two "sides" could work together better, Stamford's residents could be better protected, and the men and women of Stamford Fire-Rescue could rest assured that they have appropriate staffing when working at an incident.

[sr71 1]

SR71 - Why are you appalled at the actions of the Officer of the Engine Company? He followed his organization's procedures and utilized his mobile data terminal to advise dispatch of his status. This is somewhat redundant due to the fact that the Glenbrook Engine Co. has just (essentially) announced to dispatch "Engine 32 to Dispatch you can place a recall this incident and return all other units, holding Engine 32...." Dispatch then in-turn confirms the message by repeating it. Most normal people would now understand that to indicate that all other responding units were now in service, except the initial first-due Engine Co (Glenbrook Engine 32). Why the Company Officer of Engine 7 would then need to announce (again) over ANY radio that "Engine 7 is in service" is beyond me? The Company Officer then proceeds back to his station to find this:

or this:

or even this:

The white suburban is the Chief's vehicle and is placed directly in front of the bay where Engine 7 is normally parked. The snorkel is pulled out on the ramp to prevent Engine 7 from parking there and the old red pick-up is placed to prevent Engine 7 from parking in the firehouse driveway.

Rather than engage the "Chief", the Company Officer immediately notified his supervisor of the confrontation and removed the Engine Co. from the escalating environment and into a nearby parking lot to wait for his superiors to handle the situation (which they did). The pictures shown above were taken by a member of the Engine Co. just prior to their temporary relocation to the nearby parking lot. Just in case anyone wants to deny that the incident happened, perhaps the pictures might speak for themselves......

The Company Officer involved should be credited for his patience and for not allowing the confrontation that the "Chief" was clearly hoping for. This type of behavior should be an embarrassment to anyone involved in the fire service, whether paid, volunteer, junior, senior, officer, etc.

you need to read bro.....I Clearly State that I am APPALLED WITH THE ACTIONS OF THE CHIEF.....THE CAREER STAFF DID NOTHING WRONG IN THIS CASE !!!! THE VOLUNTEERS IN STAMFORD ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN......THE SYSTEM IS DYING AND SHOULD BE DEAD IN A FEW YEARS.

Edited December 24, 2007 by sr71

[Geppetto 31]

Chief blocks paid firefighters from entering firehouse

By A.J. O'CONNELL

aoconnell@thestamfordtimes.com

STAMFORD — Tensions between the city's career and volunteer firefighters escalated this week after a flap at the Springdale Firehouse on Saturday night, during which the Springdale fire chief prevented four paid firefighters assigned to the firehouse from pulling their engine into the firehouse by blocking their bay with his personal chief's vehicle.

Springdale Fire Chief Shawn Fahan said he pulled his personal chief's vehicle out in front of the bay used by Engine 7, the paid firefighters vehicle, to do an engine check. When Engine 7 returned from a call, the truck was not able to enter its bay. Fahan was approached by a paid fire captain with whom he's had a long-running dispute about radio procedures. "I told him, 'If you can't follow the rules and procedures of the Springdale Fire Department, I suggest you leave,'" said Fahan.

The incident occurred after the dispute with that particular fire captain came to a head — the captain, Fahan said, has refused for months to use the 154-megahertz radio system used by the volunteer fire departments and has used Stamford Fire & Rescue's 800-megahertz system instead. The volunteers wear mobile pagers that don't pick up the 800-megahertz frequency. "There have been times when the volunteers have come down to the firehouse, not knowing the call has already ended," he said.

William Callion, director of public safety, health and welfare for the city, was one of the officials who responded to the scene at Springdale on Saturday. He dismisses Fahan's story about the engine check. When he arrived at the firehouse, said Callion, all the Springdale vehicles were parked in front of the firehouse, barricading all the bays. Engine 7 could not even turn around, he said.

"To shut out a fire engine because of a dispute over radio procedure is not a very mature thing to do," said Callion. He added that blocking the engine's access was unsafe and said fire officials met with Fahan to ensure it will never happen again. "Unfortunately they've done this before," said Callion, who said a similar barricade occurred at Springdale within the last year.

There are 21 paid firefighters assigned to the Springdale firehouse; four captains, 16 firefighters and one fire marshall. The paid firefighters report to McGrath, but obey the rules and the officials of the firehouses to which they are assigned.

Callion said that neither he nor Stamford Fire & Rescue Chief Robert McGrath were aware of the dispute between Fahan and the paid captain about radio use. Fahan said that he spoke to Stamford Fire & Rescue's Deputy Fire Chief David Jones about the problem two weeks ago.

Fire union vice president David Davis was unavailable for comment at presstime.

Fahan will meet with Callion, McGrath and union representatives to discuss this issue again in January.

In the meantime, he says the incident resulted from his argument with the paid fire captain and has little to do with the incipient merger between the city's paid and volunteer fire departments.

Callion is skeptical.

"The engine was locked out — that constitutes more than a beef with one person," he said.

[Future Fireman 4]

Springdale Fire Chief Shawn Fahan said he pulled his personal chief's vehicle out in front of the bay used by Engine 7, the paid firefighters vehicle, to do an engine check. When Engine 7 returned from a call, the truck was not able to enter its bay.

"To shut out a fire engine because of a dispute over radio procedure is not a very mature thing to do," said Callion. He added that blocking the engine's access was unsafe and said fire officials met with Fahan to ensure it will never happen again. "Unfortunately they've done this before," said Callion, who said a similar barricade occurred at Springdale within the last year.

If he was doing an engine check, how come in the photos his hood was closed!!!! Someone has some explaining to do!!!! :angry:

If they've done this before, how come the problem wasn't fixed then?

My 2 cents. Ask the state to dissovle Springdale and annex it into Stamford Fire-Rescue.

Mike

Edited December 27, 2007 by Future Fireman

[IzzyEng4 427]

Man does the crap ever stop down there?????????? I know this is a media pipe dream coveing this turmoil and I wonder how the residents are viewing and feeling about tis terrible situation. Springdale's chief was totally wrong especially when the district made an agreement so long ago to have Engine 7 staffed with SFRD guys and located in thier house.

Not for nothing, all the departments / companies / districts should all be operating on the same radio system, using a common dispatch and each with thier own operations channel, thus if you going to the cuty, you switch to their channel, TOR then to thiers and so forth. There should be MDTs in all of the rigs since they area dispatch by the same center also! Not to mention the need for fire personnel to grow up, take the blinders off and start working together. Stamford as of late seems to have a lot of problems and obviously thier are three sides to this story (theirs, theirs and the truth).

Maybe Stamford should either create a town / city wide fire commission with all the districts having a represenative on it, chaired by an alderman and also have "at large" civilian representation. I'm looking from the outside in and have no clue about Stamford's politics and other dealings, my only knowledge is information read in the media and from people that I know who are from the area.

It only seems the situation is going to get worse before there is a solution unfortunately.

[ltjay157 10]

This is my take on the whole Stamford thing. The City of Stamford gives the volly depts money to operate. The career staff at the volly houses are paid for with money from the City of Stamford. The career staff for the City of Stamford is paid with money from the city. To me, the CAREER Chief should be telling all the paid staff what to do since the money for this to happen comes from THE CITY OF STAMFORD. Before anyone starts saying I'm a volly hater, I'm a volunteer myself. The city is wasting money on a dying system. I bet the volly companies even have more apparatus than the city does. I'm just getting tired of people thinking all volunteer depts are silly little boys that don't want to grow up. I just feel sorry for the Stamford taxpayers that have deal with this headache all the time.

[jloftus 28]

I hope this local gives out a call for other locals to come say hello to that dope, to block out any rig for any reason is beyond stupid. I dont know the whole story over there, but I can assume the City is a big part for this nonsense going on. Hey Fahan come on over to the Vern and try some crap like that. No union member should have to take this. Shame on the city of Stamford.

Jloftus

[FirNaTine 370]

Do you guys even keep the trailer doors locked in the Vern?

[jloftus 28]

Nope, we all gonna get a pit bull and tie it to my pickup.

[ajsbear 11]

Nope, we all gonna get a pit bull and tie it to my pickup.

Is that the pickup parked on cinder blocks?