HARRY R. CARTER, Ph.D., MIFireE
Let me reach back into the world of the 1950’s for inspiration. A lyric
from Meredith Wilson’s classic musical, The Music Man, sets the tone for this
week’s visit with you. "There’s trouble in River City." And trust
me folks, the trouble I am talking about starts with a "Capital T."
All is not well in the American Fire Service. From the volume, tone, and
tenor of my e-mails, the troubles abound on both sides of the fence. Whether a
department is career or volunteer, makes no difference. As you have seen in this
column over the past few weeks, the problems just keep coming. Regardless of
which region we discuss, the indicators portray a decidedly downward trend.
I am going to take a point of personal privilege this week. I am going to
dedicate this column to my brother firefighters laboring in the vineyards of the
Newark Fire Department. Recent events in New Jersey’s largest city have taken
a downward spiral and accelerated the out-off-control spin.
This past Wednesday night, I attended a watershed event in the history of the
City of Newark. In a burst of unanimity the Newark Professional Fire Officers
Union and the Newark Fireman’s Union held a joint meeting to protest their
treatment by the city’s administration. A recent fire that sent over forty
firefighters for medical attention brought the long simmering problems within
the department to a heavy boil.
Recently a very large blaze struck the city’s North Ward area, near the
Passaic River. An abandoned Superfund factory site caught fire and flames roared
into the night air. Over the course of that June evening, five alarm’s worth
of dedicated effort went into controlling the inferno. But the real problems did
not begin until a couple of days after the fire. A buddy of mine who was at the
fire told me that he had not seen such a wide array of multi-colored flames in
his 34 years as a firefighter. For the uninitiated, this truly represents a fire
with lots of chemicals.
A number of firefighters were taken to area hospitals with respiratory
problems. A number of them were sent home with inhalers to assist their
breathing. With the fire long out, and the members dispersed to their homes for
some well-earned time off, problems began.
Members of the shifts that had not been at the fire noted strange things
beginning to happen to their apparatus and equipment. Any exposed metal on the
fire apparatus, not covered by paint, had begun to rust. The metal attachment
rings on the men’s accountability tags began to rust and corrode. Concerns
began to rise about just what the troops might have been exposed to.
However, when the shift that worked the fire returned from their days off, no
one had yet made a determination to have their turnout gear tested for
contaminants. Air samples were taken by a local university in order to test for
potential contaminants. Rubs were also taken from exposed gear and sent to a
private laboratory by the Fireman’s Union.
As the former Commander of the Haz-Mat Team in Newark, these precipitating
occurrences immediately set off the alarm bells in my mind. Having examined the
equipment, I found stainless steel that appeared to my eyes to be pitted and
corroded. Think about it gang. Stains on stainless steel. To me this meant one
thing. These men and their equipment had been exposed to some form of acid, in
an airborne form. This was confirmed by another associate who informed me that a
litmus paper test of the runoff had tested acidic.
Not only did this explain the problems with the metal, it highlighted the
urgency of the health problems being experienced by the members of the
firefighting team. The introduction of acid into the lungs will irritate them
and cause fluid to begin to build up. Yet the city has done nothing other than
send some turnout gear to a testing agency and have an unnamed local expert test
the air and say that there was no problem.
Another critical issue involves a lack of spare turnout gear and
self-contained breathing apparatus. It’s not like there is a lack of
precedent. Back on December 17,1998 more than forty firefighters and officers
were exposed to toxic products during a fire at a major incinerator site in the
city’s Ironbound neighborhood. Nothing was done to upgrade departmental
capabilities at thiat time. And nothing has been done since.
Meanwhile, back at the Union Hall, the tension in the air was palpable, as
the two unions sat down with more than 100 of their members to take a Vote of
No Confidence in the city’s fire administration. This was a landmark
interaction that has resulted from many years of neglect by the city.
Representatives from two major New York City television stations were in
attendance as the charges against the city were read. I was there representing 1st
Responder Newspaper and Firehouse.com. No medical alert has been issued,
sufficient quantities of replacement turnout gear are still unavailable. And on
and on the list went. And the litany of woes was most familiar to me, as every
issue, other than the recent fire, dated back to my days in the department
before I retired on June 1,1999.
In addition to the fire-related problems. the city’s new state-of-the art
communications center was cited by the unions for reusing the 30-year old
dispatch equipment that was formerly located in the old dispatch center in city
hall. While the police received all new equipment, the old fire department
equipment was transferred to the new center. The unions have also notified the
state Public Employee Occupational Safety and Health Administration, that the
city has yet to comply with the state law regarding medical monitoring.
Other issues that precipitated the Vote of No Confidence included:
Folks, it is extremely difficult for me to report on this issue in a totally
unbiased manner. Too many deep and abiding personal friends were directly
affected by the events at the fire in late June. Heck, my own brother, Bob
Carter is still the Chief in Battalion Four on my old shift. He is in command of
one of the four shifts in the city’s busiest fire area.
Let me assure you that many of the issues that precipitated this
unprecedented Vote of No Confidence have been simmering since I was a
rookie firefighter more than 27 years ago. And they have yet to be addressed.
While I am sure that there may be those who fail to see how an act such as this
vote could occur, I offer the thought that desperate people will take desperate
measures to draw attention to their plight. The vote was taken immediately after
the reading of those charges against the city. The vote was unanimous among
those in the packed union auditorium. And the story was a lead story on those
television stations that covered the event.
Now let us take a broader view of the issue of poor municipal support for
fire departments. While I have chosen to focus on Newark, other firefighters
across the United States and Canada are suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous
municipal persecution.
During the past week the following events have occurred:
