By Donna Porstner
Staff Writer
December 23, 2007
STAMFORD - Springdale Fire Chief Shawn Fahan locked paid firefighters out of the firehouse last night over a spat about which radio system to use.
Fire Chief Robert McGrath said four of the paid firefighters assigned to that firehouse were returning from a call at about 6 p.m. when they found the entrance to the garage barricaded.
"When they returned, Shawn Fahan pulled the ladder truck -the engine - and put his personal chief's truck where engine No. 7 would normally enter. When they asked what was going on, he told them they had to leave," said McGrath, who arrived on the scene after being summoned by Deputy Fire Chief David Jones.
"Evidently, the fire chief (Fahan) and one of the captains . . . had a dispute over which of the radios they were using and locked our people out of the building," McGrath said in a telephone interview last night.
Firefighters have two radio systems - an 800-megahertz system and a 154-megahertz system - because the radio coverage in Springdale can be spotty.
"It was a miscommunication, actually," McGrath said.
Fahan did not return phone calls at the firehouse seeking comment last night and no one answered the telephone at his home or his cell phone.
Fire union Vice President David Davis, who had responded to the scene at the firehouse, said Fahan was the only one there when he arrived. The four paid firefighters had gone to the nearby Stamford Twin Rinks parking lot to wait for fire officials.
Davis said Fahan was upset because the paid firefighters weren't using the 154-megahertz system used by the volunteers.
Fahan said one paid firefighter, a captain, was disobeying his command to stay on the air as he responded to a routine alarm call in Glenbrook, Davis said.
When responding to calls out of district, paid firefighters often press a button on a laptop computer connected to the dispatch center to keep radio traffic at a minimum, Davis said.
"Chief Fahan basically said, 'If you cannot follow my directives, you will leave my firehouse,' " Davis said.
Davis said a disagreement over whether all four were ordered to leave or just the captain was part of the confrontation.
Police also were called to the scene.
"It sounds like our involvement was quite limited," said police spokesman Lt. Sean Cooney, who was not present but was briefed on the incident. "I don't even know what the dispute was about or how it was resolved."
Police Chief Brent Larrabee and city Director of Public Safety, Health and Welfare William Callion reportedly also were on scene but could not be reached for comment last night.
For years, the city has staffed the Springdale firehouse with paid personnel who report to McGrath but take direction from top-ranking volunteers at fire scenes.
The arrangement is a model Mayor Dannel Malloy is trying to emulate by making the paid firefighters at the Belltown, Glenbrook and the Turn of River fire departments employees of Stamford Fire and Rescue under McGrath's command.
The Turn of River volunteer department is fighting the merger in court.
Malloy could not be reached for comment last night.
The Springdale firehouse is not part of the planned merger of the paid and volunteer fire systems but has a long history of tension between its members and the city's paid fire personnel.
By the time McGrath left the firehouse last night, Fahan had allowed the paid firefighters back into the building, and McGrath said the dispute was resolved. McGrath said he other city officials plan to sit down with the Springdale volunteers and the fire union to address the dispute during a meeting the first week of January.
"I'm hoping we can work things out with the volunteers to provide the fire protection in the district to keep everyone safe," McGrath said. There won't be any confusion over which radio system to use once the new radio system is up and running in the spring, he said.
Davis said the dispute, which began at about 5:30 p.m., was over by about 8 p.m.
"It was a least a two-hour ordeal," he said.
Copyright © 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.