Mayor, chiefs cut fire station ribbon

AARON LEO, ConnPost
Article Last Updated: 08/06/2008 12:38:17 AM EDT

BRIDGEPORT — Retired Fire Lt. Bob Sirotnak traveled back in time Tuesday.

He served with Ladder 11, based at the Ocean Terrace Fire Station, starting at the time of the building's opening in 1970 until he retired in 1981.

Tuesday, Sirotnak was on hand as the firehouse was rededicated.

"We were the first group to sleep there," he recalled. "It looks exactly the same as it did then."

Sirotnak would have been surprised if he saw the station's condition just before it was closed for emergency repairs early last December. Built on fill, the structure settled over the years and the pipes underneath broke, causing drainage problems.

The garage floor had to be jackhammered apart, the plumbing redone and new support steel installed. "We're so excited to cut this," said Mayor Bill Finch, standing behind yellow Fire Department caution tape stretched across a garage doorway and flanked by two members of the Board of Fire Commissioners and other department officials.

Then he started the countdown.

"Three, two, one," he said, and cut the tape with a pair of red-handled scissors.

The station houses Engine 7 and Ladder 11, which provide fire coverage for the city's West End and Black Rock. The full contingent of firefighters moved back to the station last month.

Before that, Engine 7 firefighters were temporarily housed in an on-site trailer, and Ladder 11 at the Wood Avenue Fire Station more than a mile away.

"They have put up with some pretty deplorable conditions here and they've worked through them," Finch said of the firefighters. "This was very disruptive for them, but they put up with it."

The floor repairs and other smaller jobs cost $576,000 of $1.1 million bonded by the state, Finch said.

Left undone were some repairs that could cost as much as $1 million, such as replacing the roof and windows, and new overhead garage doors.

But returning the firefighters to their house eliminates worries about the department's goal of a response time of four minutes or less.

Questions about response time by the 7-11 firefighters arose after a fatal fire last December, a few days after the station was closed for the repair project.

From the Wood Avenue firehouse, it took seven minutes for the two companies to respond to a fast-moving blaze at 2345 Fairfield Ave., where a husband, wife and their 1-year-old son died of smoke inhalation.

Fire officials, however, insisted that the longer response time to the Fairfield Avenue fire scene, just around the corner from the closed firehouse, likely was not a factor in the three deaths because the blaze was so fast-moving and intense.

The trailer was brought to the site in early January after city residents and officials expressed concerns about response time.

Meanwhile, Finch said he hopes to use the remainder of the state money, plus about $200,000 the city bonded, to repair Engine 12's station on Beechmont Avenue, which dates to 1912.

Comments

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Ron Mackey AOL Wednesday Aug 6  

The "repairs" that were needed at Engine 7 and Ladder 11 have been reported to Chief Rooney for years on a daily, weekly and monthly reports and instead of fixing things immediately, the status quo has been to let them go unrepair. Official reports from fire officers will show that those repairs had been reported, with Chief Rooney taking no action.

How come the repairs at Engine 7 and Ladder 11 on Ocean Terrace were not completed when the requests were made. Bridgeport firefighters did everything possible to save those who died. The question is was everything done by the chief and the city to keep those firefighters at the Ocean Terrace firehouse?

*What backup plan did Chief Rooney have for the citizens of the West End and Black Rock with an empty firehouse in their district? The answer is nothing.

*Was Mayor Finch aware of the lack of fire protection with the firehouse closing?

Chief Rooney has new policy that states that fire apparatus cannot drive faster than 25mph when responding to emergency (you can get in an accident is the rationale behind this). Firefighters know that those minutes wasted in getting there can make a major difference.
Firefighters risked their life to save a husband, wife and an infant but they where not given the support they needed to at lease make an attempt of a rescue.

In the Connecticut Post on Dec. 7, 2007, the article titled "3 from family die in Bridgeport fire," the article states "Fire Chief Brian Rooney said the response time by firefighters to the scene was "less than three minutes," and that the closed firehouse was not a significant factor in rescue efforts." Think about that, the fire was around the corner of the firehouse but the fire companies that fought that fire had to take 7 minutes to travel from Wood Ave. firehouse and Fire Chief Brian Rooney said the response time by firefighters to the scene was not a significant factor in rescue efforts.

How much will Chief Rooney`s decisions cost the taxpayers of Bridgeport in this lawsuit? It will cost the women and men of the Bridgeport Fire Department their pay increase, new fire equipment, the taxpayers of Bridgeport a tax increase. The citizens of Bridgeport cannot afford Chief Rooney`s poor decisions.

Shut up Stratford, CT Wednesday Aug 6  

Weren't you fired recently??? Is that why your so angry against the Chief or is it because he is White?

Ron Mackey AOL Wednesday Aug 6  

Shut up wrote: Weren't you fired recently??? Is that why your so angry against the Chief or is it because he is White?

"Shut up", I (Ron Mackey) proudly retired from the Bridgeport Fire Department in June 2001. It was a pleasure working with the best firefighters in Connecticut.

I am upset that fire chief did not do everything he could to protect his men and women who risk their life every day. I am angry that 3 people are dead from that fire. At no time have I mention the word race.

"Shut up", you should drive from the Ocean Terrace firehouse to 2345 Fairfield Ave. were the 3 people were killed and time yourself. Then drive from 2345 Fairfield Ave.to the firehouse on Wood Ave. at 25 miles per hour and time yourself. Then come back and tell us all how long it took.

Fire Chief Rooney, is just a high school graduate and he is way over his head. Let`s see how much this lawsuit will cost the taxpayers of Bridgeport? I wonder how many new firehouses could have been builded with the money this lawsuit will cost.

"Shut up", I guess you have no problem with poor leadership.

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