http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-captain5apr08,0,1041847.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines
April 8, 2005
A captain of the Byram Volunteer Fire Department has resigned after the company's Board of Directors sent him a letter that he cannot fight fires until he gets a required physical.
Capt. Robert Citron, 40, said he should have been given advance warning that his firefighting authorization would be suspended.
Citron resigned April 1, he said, citing the company's decision to enforce a Fire Department policy requiring active career and volunteer firefighters to have annual physicals and report to fire scenes wearing "entry tags" displaying training certifications and health information. The tags also indicated when a firefighter is due for a physical.
"I received no warning that my tag had expired," Citron said. "There is no reason to be treated like this."
Greenwich Fire Chief Daniel Warzoha said Citron should have known he was due for a physical by reading the information on his tag. "As far as notification, his entry tag tells him when his physical was due," Warzoha said. "But the situation is that he has resigned and he's gone."
Thomas Greco, president of the Byram Volun-
teer Fire Department wrote the letter to Citron on March 18, according to a copy Greco provided.
The Fire Department last year adopted more explicit guidelines for reporting to fire scenes, including requiring all firefighters to turn in their tag to an accountability officer so their training and health information could be checked before joining in fighting a fire. In addition to a yearly physical, firefighters are required to have twice annual stress tests gauging strength and stamina.
The stricter measures were put in place after the December 2003 Davis Avenue fire, in which three firefighters were seriously injured. Though physical condition was not a factor in those injuries, a review of procedures that followed the fire showed that some firefighters were taking part in operations without updated physicals.
-- Martin B. Cassidy
Copyright © 2005, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.