http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-firecrews3oct31,0,3861135.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines
By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
October 31, 2004
Career firefighters are pressing for larger crews of paid personnel on fire engines responding to fires and other emergencies, saying the use of two-man teams exposes them and the public to unnecessary danger during house and building fires.
John Novak, president of Firefighters Local 1042, which represents the town's 97 paid firefighters, cites a federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration law requiring a minimum of four firefighters to form an operational crew to fight blazes. Under the law, a two-man team fights the fire inside the building, backed up by a two-man team standing outside keeping tabs on the pair inside and helping communicate with superior officers, Novak said.
The law allows firefighters to enter a structure with fewer than four firefighters present if they believe there is a threat "immediately dangerous to life and health."
Novak said establishing crews of four career personnel would allow firefighting operations to begin immediately without having to await and coordinate two separate teams. Volunteers, who often respond to fires from home, could form additional crews as soon as they arrive, Novak said.
"We've always believed four-men engines are better than two-men engines," Novak said. "Having four rather than two, you can get right to work when you arrive."
Because of the law, firefighters responding from the Cos Cob, Sound Beach, Byram, and Glenville firehouses -- where only two-man crews are assigned to each 24-hour shift -- must stand by for another truck with two or more firefighters to arrive before starting to fight a fire, said Novak, a lieutenant based at the Central Fire House. Novak wouldn't specify a preference between hiring additional firefighters or consolidating existing personnel onto fewer engines each shift.
"It all depends on how they decide to deploy their manpower but we're not telling them how to do it," Novak said. "The membership feel minimum manning is a major issue and we've been talking about it since I can remember."
Fire Chief Daniel Warzoha declined to comment on the issue, citing a written agreement not to comment on issues that are part of union negotiations.
A panel of three Connecticut fire chiefs appointed in December by First Selectman Jim Lash recommended in a report evaluating firefighting operations that career firefighters be consolidated onto fewer engines, or more personnel be hired to provide larger crews.
The review focused on a Dec. 5, 2003, fire at 312 Davis Ave. in which three firefighters were seriously injured.
The size of crews assigned to firetrucks has been an issue in the town's ongoing contract talks with the union, Lash has said. The union and town are scheduled to go before the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration on Nov. 12 to resolve the contract dispute, officials said.
"We're still pretty far apart," Lash added.
At the arbitration session, the union plans to present an expert from the state chapter of the National Fire Prevention Association to argue the advantages of larger crews.
Currently the fire department assigns four-man crews to two stations, Central and North Street. Central, headquarters for the department, also has two additional men assigned to a second engine, Novak said.
The three-chief panel recommended changes to increase or maximize available career personnel manning trucks for firefighting duties by putting career officers in command of fire scenes and consolidating crews to have more crews of four -- or at least three -- career firefighters. Stamford Fire Chief Robert McGrath said most fire engines in downtown Stamford have four-man crews, but in North Stamford, Springdale and other parts of town firefighters rely on other companies to achieve the four-man minimum.
McGrath said two-man crews in North Stamford often have to wait for another firetruck before they can begin firefighting.
While backup crews are still en route, a two-man crew can face situations where they can't stand by at a fire scene and must attempt a rescue, McGrath said.
"It can be a problem because you have to wait for a second truck to arrive before you start interior structural firefighting," McGrath said. "If there is a rescue that has to happen all bets are off and you do what you have to do."
Brendan Keatley, a Stamford firefighter and vice president of the Stamford Firefighters Association, the union for Stamford firefighters, said assigning two-man crews to respond in less densely populated areas with large homes in Greenwich and Stamford can slow down fire response.
Once a second engine arrives, other logistical problems such as finding a hydrant or water source in more wooded areas can further delay the start of firefighting, Keatley observed.
"Some of these houses in Greenwich are pretty huge places," Keatley said. "Pulling up in an engine with two people in it can be kind of iffy."
Copyright © 2004, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.