Boston FF's blasted for Picking up Lunch with Rigs

[batt2 145]

Boston FF's are being blasted by "Joe Shortsleeve" (WBZ News) for picking up lunch with rigs during duty.

http://wbztv.com/iteam/boston.fire.trucks.2.1480631.html

Also, a Facebook page has been started by FF's to show Joe their displeasure:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=297897611956

Some points:

A lot of people look down at FD, PD and EMS and don't understand what we do or have any willingness to learn.

Boston's Fire Commissioner did say it was within policy, but as a civilian who is not from public safety background, he probably really doesn't understand why there's a benefit to keeping the crew together and that FD's don't get true "lunch breaks". He really didn't help by not explaining that well.

The Boston Finance Committee member interviewed is not applying common sense while worrying about all of the "wasted" taxpayer dollars.

Edited February 16, 2010 by batt2

[KCRD 6]

What an incredible waste of time by this so-called "reporter." How much energy was wasted uncovering this "scandal"

[16fire5 693]

It's tough to take how we are the devil now that the economy has gone bad. No lunch break crew integrity critical and yeah the commisioner is right the guys are always interacting with the public in a positive way. 99 out of 100 people I ever talked to in the supermarket were happy to see us. Plus we get the opportunity to dispel the myth that the city foots the bill for the meal.

[JFLYNN 681]

It's tough to take how we are the devil now that the economy has gone bad. No lunch break crew integrity critical and yeah the commisioner is right the guys are always interacting with the public in a positive way. 99 out of 100 people I ever talked to in the supermarket were happy to see us. Plus we get the opportunity to dispel the myth that the city foots the bill for the meal.

The City doesn't pay for your meals????

[x635 4,066]

They are using a BRUSH TRUCK as a spare engine right now, and this is the concern!!!!

[JBE 328]

I gotta agree with Seth and Chief Flynn here. I actually got stopped one day going into my apartment, one of the locals thought the city paid for the meals Firefighters and Dispatchers ate. I explained that it came out of our pockets. I was up in Boston last month, and my buddys' truck company was operating a spare that looked like it was at least late 80's vintage. Maybe Joe SH!#ForBrains should look into the lousy apparatus these guys have to work with.

Edited February 16, 2010 by JBE

[JFLYNN 681]

I gotta agree with Seth and Chief Flynn here. I actually got stopped one day going into my apartment, one of the locals thought the city paid for the meals Firefighters and Dispatchers ate. I explained that it came out of our pockets. I was up in Boston last month, and my buddys' truck company was operating a spare that looked like it was at least late 80's vintage. Maybe Joe SH!#ForBrains should look into the lousy apparatus these guys have to work with.

You guys really pay for your own meals?

[wraftery 1,275]

Take a look! Mass. law requires meal periods just like NY FF's who eat at the House do not get these bresks as required...How many times have you guys left your lunch on the table to take a run? Look at the Mass labor law eplaiined:

"Breaks during the work day keep us all sane and safe. Allowing breaks during the workday isn't just a matter of practice or what might be viewed as nice. In fact, Massachusetts law does regulate meal breaks and whether employers are required to pay employees for those breaks. To help answer this question, I consulted David Conforto, founder and managing partner of Conforto Law Group, a Boston boutique firm that represents workers in employment law matters.

"Massachusetts employees who work more than six hours a day must be provided with a minimum of 30 minutes unpaid time for a meal. Employers who violate this provision are subject to fines ranging from $300 to $600 per violation"

If you go on a run during your "meal period," the city sent you on that run and interrupted your meal period. The city then would be in violation and subject to a $300 to $600 fine for each person in your company.

On the other hand, giving meal periods to all FF's working on any given day would be a costly administrative nightmare.

My advice on shopping FF's? Let them sshop. It really doesn't cost a lot, and if you call, they'll still be at your front door in three minutes.

[efdcapt115 1,511]

If we wanted free food we shoulda been cops

[KCRD 6]

If we wanted free food we shoulda been cops

Wanted to give you a point for that one, but I used up my quota for the day.

[jack10562 414]

Puffery. The Stop & Shop they were visiting is approximately 3 minutes from their station.

[wraftery 1,275]

Puffery. The Stop & Shop they were visiting is approximately 3 minutes from their station.

Stop & Shop and A&P are working out the final details of a merger. The new chain will be called STOP & P.

[LTNRFD 266]

Stop & Shop and A&P are working out the final details of a merger. The new chain will be called STOP & P.

That's an old one !!!!! Oh sorry chief......just saw you're in the 60 and wiser group......

[Remember585 815]

This is so dumb. I don't understand why those in emergency services are always scrutinized because some public servants are dirtbags.

Seth, are you serious? That's an outrage!

Maybe fire engines should be done like unmarked patrol cars...

[ajsbear 11]

Sorry we're on a meal break, can't come to your fire call us in 30 minutes. By law we get a break every 8 hours for food and are closed. Can you imagine?

[JackEMT 77]

Bad choice for a story by WBZ. If you read the comments by readers, they agree that the reporter is being petty.

With the recent death of a firefighter, you would think safety and fleet maintenance would be looked at with a fine tooth comb, not what the FF's have for lunch.

Oh, and if they want to pick on someone, how about all the people that double-park illegally on the main routes in Boston, now that's a safety hazard, not FF's in the supermarket.

[Reliance 29]

I work a 24 hour shift and I pay for my own meals.

[wraftery 1,275]

I work a 24 hour shift and I pay for my own meals.

WOW! CANADIAN FF'S PAY FOR THEIR OWN MEALS JUST LIKE US. I wonder what they do in Europe or Australia? SOMEBODY must be getting their meals paid for by the city. How else could this rumor have started.

[FFLieu 70]

You guys really pay for your own meals?

Yes. Most normal people pay for their own meals. Even us "volunteers."

[LTNRFD 266]

WOW! CANADIAN FF'S PAY FOR THEIR OWN MEALS JUST LIKE US. I wonder what they do in Europe or Australia? SOMEBODY must be getting their meals paid for by the city. How else could this rumor have started.

And everyone is forgetting the executive chefs that cook our meals and the Molly Maid cleaning crew that keeps the fire stations sparkling clean !!!!

[PEMO3 523]

They should tell the reporter the solution would be that they would put the rig out of service while they go get their meals in their POV then what them complain that they should take the truck so they can respond faster. Sometimes it seems like anyone that works for the public good, volunteer and career alike, are open game for the media. The same type of public complainers used to happen in NYC when EMS would sit on a corner waiting for a call to drop and someone would call and complain that there was a crew goofing off reading the paper and having coffee when they should be "working". Sometimes I thing we should just replace the chevrons with a bulls-eye target.

[helicopper 1,050]

Did you see the followup to the story?

City pays electric bill for lights and so FF can watch TV in firehouses.

Next week's story is:

City FF use firehouses to sleep, shower, and eat but pay no rent.

[Guest USAFvet]

So some questions to the career fire service professionals:

1. How is the meal shopping normally done?

2. Does the department contribute or cover the cost?

It seems as the newspaper readers may have not been given the entire and objective subject details. We may understand it fully, but not the local citizens of the Boston area.

[DR104 141]

Jeffrey Connolly insists it sends the wrong message. "It doesn't look good for the taxpayers, particularly in this economy."

Lets check your record Jeffrey when you were the executive director of the Boston Finance Committee for 30 years. I am sure you got alot of free meals, a take home car with gas paid by the city of Boston and alot more.

Edited February 16, 2010 by DR104

[KCRD 6]

So some questions to the career fire service professionals:

1. How is the meal shopping normally done?

2. Does the department contribute or cover the cost?

It seems as the newspaper readers may have not been given the entire and objective subject details. We may understand it fully, but not the local citizens of the Boston area.

The city contributes NOTHING. The men pay per day for what they want to eat.

[ONEEYEDMIC 68]

If we wanted free food we shoulda been cops

Cops get free food? Please tell me where this happens!!

[Reliance 29]

And everyone is forgetting the executive chefs that cook our meals and the Molly Maid cleaning crew that keeps the fire stations sparkling clean !!!!

I do my own cooking, clean my own dishes, clean the office floors, dust counters and equipment and clean the windows. No one does my chores for me but me.

It is a case of YOUR MOTHER DOESN'T LIVE HERE, SO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF NOONE ELSE WILL.

[firecapt32 282]

This one is just too good to pass up. We were vertualy across the street from an A&P at one time the Chief decided that we should send one man to the store for lunch. ok not a bad idea(maybe) so he made an order that the "light duty" man would go. hmmm can you see the problems coming cant you, It seemed that the "light duty" firefighter was having a "problem" with the department with his status, haveing said that the Chief ordered him to go to the store. did I mention that he was ordred to WALK to the store?? he was on light duty because of a back injury, so he called the police and asked about crossing the street in the middle of the block---we all know what the response was. So the firefighter in question walked all the way up to the cornor crossed the street did the shopping walked allthe way back but because the lunch was "kinda" heavy he took a shopping cart out of the store area. walked all the way back up to the cornor then all the way to the station. got the lunch back to the station around 1:30 in the afternoon. it gets better he left the shopping cart on the ramp and then called the police to report it!!! The look on the chief face was pricless when the officer came to take statements.

cant fool fighters for long

I should write a book but no one would believe it--except maybe you guys

and dont for get we get to park on departmental property for free!!

[wraftery 1,275]

OK it looks like story time.

Once upon a time there was a very large strip shopping center whose parking lot straddled two jurisdictions. Quite a few people beat a few arrests because the "jurisdiction that they were arrested in" was wrong. The PD's agreed to paint the city line across the parking lot (3 or 4 city blocks long) so it would very clear where the arrest was made.

Then, one day, an engine Co. from one of the jurisdictions was spotted by a politico, shopping at a market 300 ft out ot their city. (That particular Eng. Co. has no supermarkets in its company area) The poop hit the air circulator,(despite all the logic explained by the guilty Eng. Co.) and City A's FD was banned from shopping out of town for any reason.

Along comes the Eng. Co. from city B. The supermarket lies in city B.

Always willing to help a brother, the City B engine agrees to meet the City A engine at 10:00am every morning at the shopping center, both on the proper side of the city line. The shopping list was passed over the city line, along with the money and you know the rest.

It didn't last too long. Logic prevailled, and logic will probably prevail in Boston, too.

Footnote: I kinda liked the painted line, myself. You don't have to fill out the full NFIRS if your guys can push the car fire over the line before WP (oops... I meant to say City A) gets there.

[firecapt32 282]

Billy we should make apout about firefighters stories. like the show "The Naked city" there are 8 million stories. All of them funny some even true. This guy in Boston need to get a life. Next thing you know they will be looking into how much firefighters make in their retirment