NEWS

Wilmington Fire Dept. changes course on closures

Brittany Horn

The News Journal

After reinstating a controversial practice last week of taking fire trucks out of service to save on overtime, Wilmington Fire Department on Monday said it will instead take Fire Engine 6 out of operation when staffing levels aren't met, Fire Chief Anthony Goode said.

Wilmington firefighter Glenn Milton from Station 6 joins other firefighters at a residential fire at Madison and Eighth streets in 2013. Fire department overtime spending in 2015 has more than doubled what was spent in 2014 despite efforts to keep costs low.

Rather than have conditional company closures that rotate through three Wilmington fire stations, Goode said the engine at Station 6 on North Union Street will remain closed if there aren't enough firefighters available for the upcoming shift. The department currently has 11 vacant positions, but is down 19 firefighters due to long-term injuries, illness, leaves of absence and modified duty, he said.

This decision eliminates the complete closure of a Wilmington fire station, which would occur during the conditional closures.

"I am a firefighter and I've worked the streets of Wilmington," Goode said. "I always have a concern when we alter the way we do business. But sitting in a leadership position and actually evaluating where we are, I've grown. In doing so, as a leader, I have to make difficult decisions and continue programs that are unpopular."

Members of the firefighters' union, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1590, have argued the practice of closing a fire truck is unsafe and puts the lives of city firefighters and citizens at risk. The practice was re-upped last week without warning from the administration, prompting protests from firefighters and their families.

The decision to keep one particular engine closed isn't any better, said union Vice President Tim Taggart.

"You can show by past practice, this is a dangerous practice," Taggart said, referring to two fatal fires in the last year when the conditional company closures were in place. "These taxpayers deserve to have six engines and two ladders to provide the service that they are paying for."

Firefighters work at a rowhome fire on Lakeview Road after a blaze was reported shortly after 3:00 a.m. Saturday.

Capt. Christopher Leach and Lt. Jerry Fickes were killed in a Canby Park rowhome fire on Sept. 24, marking the first deaths of a Wilmington firefighter in the line of duty in nearly 20 years.

Leach and some of the firefighters injured in the Canby Park blaze worked out of Station 6.

Two children were also killed in a January fire along North Monroe Street that left firefighters bailing out of second-story windows.

No reports have correlated the deaths and the company closures, but union members say it's impossible to ignore that the practice was in place both times the city has lost residents in the last year. Philadelphia's city fire department recently moved to eliminate the "brown-outs" after citing slower response times from stations and increased spending in overtime costs despite the effort to save money.

In a story in Sunday's News Journal, experts took issue with the Wilmington department reinstating the conditional closures without assessing the safety risk.

In an effort to alleviate some stress on Wilmington companies already short firefighters, Goode said he will redeploy men and women currently assigned to the Fire Prevention Unit, Marine Unit and some administrative positions effective Jan. 1.

He can't move them sooner due to pre-planned vacations and other requests that Goode said will ultimately place more stress on departments around the holidays. With the addition of two firefighters per shift starting the new calendar year, the need to close Engine 6 will hopefully be eliminated.

Until then, those assigned to Engine 6 will be reassigned.

"They will simply be detailed to another company for that day," Goode said, acting as floaters for other stations in need.

But the union says this is just another example of wasteful spending and poor management on the part of the department's leadership. Union Treasurer Gabriel Pabon said if the chief felt safety and other issues were pressing, he would reassign firefighters from those units today.

"When we have 136 people versus 160, that's going to cost overtime," Pabon said. "It's poor management. It's basically wasteful spending."

The topic of conditional company closures was slated for the City Council Public Safety Committee meeting Monday night but was pulled at the last minute.

Goode said this was because of pending litigation involving the criminal case against 27-year-old Beatriz Fana-Ruiz, who was charged with the deaths of Fickes and Leach, as well as setting the blaze. He also noted that the department is not in a position to speak about the fatal fire, should any other litigation result from the tragedy.

Firefighters like Pabon were prepared to speak at the meeting but were turned away. The union plans to hold a press conference at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at Wilmington Fire Station 6, where Engine 6 is housed.

"We do not agree with what he's doing," Pabon said. "We don't agree with any fire station closure, whether it's called rolling bypass, conditional company closures or whatever."

Contact Brittany Horn at (302) 324-2771 or bhorn@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @brittanyhorn.