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Transfers Bronx Chief: FDNY Uses Stick To Speed Trucks Transfers Bronx
Chief
UFOA President Peter L. Gorman said FDNY officials made it clear the shift was over alleged "poor performance" on average response times, which were on an upward climb for parts of 2005. More Moves Threatened The union filed a grievance over the transfer, saying it was done without due process. But, Mr. Gorman said, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta promised even more officer "lifts" if response times didn't experience a sudden drop by the end of January. FDNY spokesman Frank Gribbon said in a phone interview Jan. 12 that there had been a misunderstanding between the department and the union. "No decisions have been made about any further action. We want to look at the numbers at the end of the month, and the department will meet with the UFOA and then decide what, if any, actions to take," he stated.
The unions responded with statistics showing that fire vehicle accidents fell from 662 in 2003 to 486 last year, a 22-percent drop. "Our members have contractual rights and we will protect them," said Mr. Gorman. "Make no mistake - this union will never allow the integrity of a firefighter or an officer to be attacked without due process." The FDNY didn't specify why the Bronx Battalion Chief - who was not identified by name - had been singled out, but the department had signaled to the unions earlier in the year that it was watching three particular firehouses in The Bronx and in Brooklyn that had sharply elevated response times for structural fires. One department source said FDNY officials were clear in wanting to bring those numbers down. Workload No Factor? The FDNY has dismissed the argument from the UFOA that firefighters are stretched thin by an increased workload. The factors cited by the union were also in play during 2002, 2003 and 2004, officials contended, and there was no jump in response time commensurate with those that started to occur mid-way through 2004 and into 2005. Despite Mr. Gribbon's statement to the contrary, Mr. Gorman said that he had met with Commissioner Scoppetta Jan. 10 to discuss the unexpected transfer, and was told that unless average response times improved dramatically, the officers in the poorest-performing company, battalion, and division would be moved into different houses at the end of January. Commissioner Scoppetta has a history of bitter exchanges with the fire unions over slowed response times. Eight months ago he accused Mr. Gorman and Uniformed Firefighters' Association President Stephen J. Cassidy of deliberately causing a slowdown in an effort to get six engine companies that were closed in 2003 by Mayor Bloomberg reopened. The union leaders insisted that the increase in average response time was due in part to the emphasis on safety that the department placed after a speeding Bronx fire truck blew through a red light in July 2004 and smashed into a car, killing one of the occupants. Unions: Full Stop The driver and officer in charge of the rig were disciplined, and union officials began urging Chauffeurs to halt completely at red lights and stop signs, in accordance with national safety guidelines, even though FDNY regulations allow them to roll through with caution. "Every firefighter driving now has been shown that video of the truck flying through the light and crashing in The Bronx," said Mr. Gorman, who met with Mr. Scoppetta last summer to work on ways to lower response times. "The Commissioner succeeded in improving safety and we helped him do it, and we aren't going back to some kind of cowboy style of driving." The FDNY wants to bring response times down to the lower numbers recorded in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Mayor Bloomberg closed three firehouses in 2003 that had single-unit engine companies and eliminated three more engine companies in two-unit houses, leaving them with ladder trucks only. Mr. Gorman said the threat of involuntary transfers amounted to "management by intimidation," and that the department was failing to take into account the recent drop in fire truck accidents and civilian casualties. "Fires are still being put out, we're still doing more with less, we should be commended, and not demonized," he added. Greater Deployment Focus on response times has also increased as the city look for new ways to squeeze more productivity out of the department by assigning it duties beyond basic firefighting. Firefighters now respond to gas leaks, medical emergencies and several other types of calls. Additionally, a certain percentage of fire houses is out of service daily for training and other department initiatives. The FDNY has said that the number of structural and emergency fires has significantly dropped in recent years due to better technology and fire safety education among the public. According to the FDNY, medical emergencies now comprise 40 percent of the annual runs made by firefighters. In the past, the department has suggested that some firefighters weren't "turning out" in their bunker gear as quickly for a medical response as they did a fire, or sometimes delayed pressing the "10-84" button that signals their arrival at a call. It also disputed the increased workload factor by noting that response times are calculated on first-due houses going to first-due boxes. But Mr. Gorman reiterated the problem was due to the city's insistence on doing "more with less." "In 2002 the total number of alarms, and they were all fires, was 426,542," he said. "For 2005, the total's around 483,568 - we averaged in the figures from December that haven't been released yet, but it would only differ by about a thousand. So from 2002 to 2005, that's an increase of 60,000 alarms, and we have fewer engine companies." Mr. Gorman said he hoped to get a hearing on the lifted Battalion Commander as soon as possible. |
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