Palm Beach Again Reverses Course On Whether Firefighters Can Shop For Groceries While On Duty

PALM BEACH, FL – Palm Beach Fire-Rescue personnel are now allowed to shop for groceries once during a 24-hour shift following a policy change that puts them back in step with other area fire departments.

It’s a common practice among firefighters nationwide. Palm Beach was no different until April 22, 2010. That’s when the grocery-shopping privilege was taken away during a time of upheaval in the fire and police departments over proposed pension cuts.

Then-Fire Chief Bill Amador implemented the “no grocery shopping while on duty’’ policy after consulting with Town Manager Peter Elwell. Elwell said that was just one of several issues that needed to be addressed “in the midst of dealing with disciplinary actions and misconduct” during that time.

Amador was subsequently fired for his involvement with a website that was critical of the pension cuts.

“It was a difficult period of time,” Elwell said Friday. “There was a lot of disruption in the department, and there were a lot of factors that needed to be addressed to get back on course. One of them was that they (fire-rescue personnel) were prohibited from going to the grocery store while on duty.”

Public Safety Director Kirk Blouin implemented the new policy, which took effect April 14.

The new policy had nothing to do with the local firefighters’ union asking for this change during recent negotiations, he said. Blouin said talks about the issue had been ongoing — with Deputy Fire Chief Darrel Donatto and Elwell — long before the union brought it up.

Two hours

“Sometimes, changes take awhile,” Blouin said. “Because they do a lot of shift swaps, they don’t always know who they will be working with on shifts, and it’s a little cumbersome to coordinate a meal or grocery list because of that. It’s part of firehouse tradition to sit down and eat dinner together. They work as a team and, most times, sit down and eat a meal together as a family. We examined whether it impacts response times, and we don’t believe it will do that.”

The specifics of the policy are: Fire-rescue personnel are permitted to shop at local grocery stores on the island only from 9 to 11 a.m. Any exception must be approved by the battalion chief.

One unit will shop for each station, and only one unit may shop at a time. No more than two personnel will be inside the store, and the driver will remain in the vehicle to monitor the radio and to ensure immediate response should a call come in. An officer must be present while shopping.

The policy may be modified or rescinded at any time.

Tara Cardosa, spokeswoman for the International Association of Firefighters, Local 2928, said Palm Beach was the only department in the area, as far as the union knows, that didn’t allow firefighters to shop for groceries on their shifts.

“Our firefighter/paramedics were pleasantly surprised to see the town has changed its opinion regarding firefighters shopping for groceries while on shift and in zone, ready to respond,” Cardosa said in a statement. “Firefighters across the country have long cherished the tradition of cooking and eating a family meal together for dinner, and that’s why it’s typical for them to want to shop together.

“The profession of firefighting is much like a real family, where it’s important for the crew to do things together to foster camaraderie, build trust and decompress together because, at a second’s notice, their lives could be in each other’s hands.”

With a change in leadership and many new hires, Elwell said, there’s a more “professional and positive team atmosphere” at all levels.

“Kirk (Blouin) and Darrel (Donatto) thought this would be appropriate and helpful to them in managing the department, and would be appreciated by the firefighters,” Elwell said. “They felt confident they could implement this with zero impact on service to the community. I accepted that and agree with the procedure they implemented.”

Ohio Building Owner Indicted In Firefighter Deaths

TOLEDO, OH – The owner of an Ohio apartment building accused of setting a blaze that killed two firefighters has been indicted on aggravated murder charges that could carry a potential death penalty if he’s convicted.

A county grand jury in Toledo indicted Ray Abou-Arab on Friday in the Jan. 26 blaze. He also faces two counts of murder, eight counts of aggravated arson and one count of tampering with evidence.

A message seeking comment was left for his attorney. The 61-year-old suspect is being held on $5 million bond.

Court documents allege Abou-Arab was in a garage at the site of the fire near downtown Toledo just before an apartment resident said she saw the blaze break out.

Veteran firefighter Stephen Machcinski and rookie James Dickman were killed.

San Francisco Firefighters Face High Number Of Cancer Deaths

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Two San Francisco firefighters have died from cancer in the last week, highlighting what the firefighters’ union calls an “epidemic” of cancer from the hazardous work of fighting fires.

Clyde Watarai, 57, a 16-year veteran of the department, died Wednesday after a long battle with lung cancer, according to SFFD Local 798.

His death came little more than a week after that of Lt. John Murphy, 49, a 24-year veteran, died from melanoma on Jan. 28.

Murphy was originally diagnosed with melanoma on his neck in 2010 that he had developed through repeated exposure to carcinogens while fighting fires, the union said. While it was successfully removed then, his cancer returned two months ago.
“Our hearts are heavy with grief this week as we bury these two men,” Tom O’Connor, the union’s president, said. “Cancer is becoming an epidemic within the fire department and we must develop new and aggressive methods of protecting our firefighters.”

Murphy and Hatarai make five firefighters that have died of cancer in the last five months, the union said, including Capt. Dan Armenta, 63, a firefighter for 31 years who retired in 2010 and died on Oct. 25.

A study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the U.S. Fire Administration released in October last year found elevated cancer rates and deaths from cancer among nearly 30,000 firefighters in San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia.

The study found that higher rates cancer of respiratory, digestive and urinary systems accounted for most of the increased risk. Firefighters in the study also had a risk of mesothelioma, a cancer associated with asbestos exposure, that was two times higher than that in the U.S. population as a whole.

Arbitrators Orders Removal Of Manning Clause From Firefighter Contract

MANSFIELD, OH – The long-standing clause in the city of Mansfield firefighters’ contract that mandates a minimum level of daily staffing has been eliminated, after a conciliator decided in the favor of the city.

Conciliator Margaret Nancy Johnson issued binding rulings Friday on several disputed areas in which the city and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 266 had reached impasse.

Her decisions — against the union on both minimum manning and the union’s proposed $1 per hour increase for firefighters assigned to rescue squad work, but in favor of the IAFF to retain current paid leaves of absence, longevity and paid holiday benefits — go into effect immediately.

Johnson cited fiscal pressures on the city, which has been under state-declared fiscal emergency since August 2010, as a major consideration in her decision.

Minimum manning had been part of the fire contract since 1979. It remained an issue in recent contract negotiations, despite concessions by the IAFF, which agreed in 2011 to voluntarily reduce the minimum manning level from 21 firefighters per day to 18.

Both sides reached impasse in 2013 after the city sought to eliminate minimum staffing requirements altogether, while the IAFF sought to save the requirement.

The union argued that manning constitutes a safety issue. The IAFF also contended passage of the PRIDE levy last November, a 0.25 percent income tax increase with half of all collections earmarked for safety, would ensure the city would have funds to maintain minimum manning.

But city officials told the conciliator minimum manning has caused the city to rack up significant overtime. They argued that national firefighting safety standards provide guidelines that call for at least four firefighters to be present to fight a fire, but don’t mandate that a particular number be assigned to particular stations, or that all four come from the same station or unit.

“The decision by the conciliator to eliminate the long-standing staffing protections is disappointing,” IAFF President Dan Crow said. “The city has offered a troubling plan that jeopardizes the safety of the citizens and the firefighters who will be responding to their calls for service. The contingency plans offered by the city are inadequate by all applicable standards and aren’t necessary considering the city’s finances.”

During a hearing, the city, when pressed to give details on a plan for running the department without minimum staffing provisions, told the conciliator they would maintain a minimum of 12 firefighters per day, Crow said. “Those kinds of cuts would mean closing at least two fire stations. It’s unthinkable that the mayor would present such a drastic plan months after passing an additional levy in which he promised to increase safety staffing,” he said.

In her decision, Johnson said overtime in the fire department helped contribute to past city deficits. While that overtime has been reduced through a federal $1 million SAFER grant that allowed for hiring additional firefighters, the SAFER grant ends in 2015 — after which the city “must have the flexibility to determine and control staffing requirements,” she wrote.

Johnson pointed to firefighter contract agreements in Lima, Euclid, Warren and Elyria as providing for safety concerns “without imposing costly mandates on the city.”

Ruling on a separate but closely related issue, Johnson kept in place contract language that would prohibit the city from counting probationary firefighters toward any minimum manning counts.

Even if elimination of minimum manning is gone, manning counts could come up as a matter of city policy, the ruling said. Since she agreed that only experienced firefighters should satisfy administrative and regulatory standards for fire suppression, “some of the safety concerns of the union have been addressed,” Johnson said. “Additional safety concerns may be raised in subsequent collective bargaining.”

The conciliator said she was not bound by an earlier fact-finding report which has been rejected by the union, but noted that the fact-finder also had proposed eliminating minimum manning.

Crow expressed the union’s disappointment in a statement issued Sunday evening.

“The new contract as a whole is concessionary,” the union president said.

“The firefighters agreed to pay 50 percent of all future increases in health insurance, new promotions take place at a reduced salary and rank structure, concessions on holiday leave, longevity and sick leave will continue. The wage increase of 1 percent comes after five years of pay freezes,” he said.

Crow noted that the conciliation report pointed out that the the city initially projected that the PRIDE tax would generate $25.8 million in 2014 — while the union projects $27.7 million, based on actual collections so far. “The city administration has consistently misled the citizens and the employees alike on the financial state of the city,” the union president said.

Mayor Tim Theaker could not immediately be reached for comment.

IAFF Conciliator Report Mansfield

IAFF Conciliator Report Mansfield

From The Mansfield News Journal

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