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WHEN EVERY SECOND COUNTS

Anyone that has attended a city council finance meeting when the Warwick Fire Department is requesting a piece of equipment, understands that the department always prefaces the request using the phrase “every second counts”. We have heard endless discussions about public safety where that phrase has been used. Apparently, that phrase doesn’t count when the fire fighters are shopping at the local supermarkets.

It is no secret that I vehemently oppose firefighter on duty shopping. I have publicly stated my opinion, the reasons for my opinion, and I have substantiated my opinion with fact based analysis as to the actual cost to the taxpayer of on duty shopping, and to the possibility of negative consequences to response time. For many years I have made public, numerous examples of fire fighter abuse of equipment and tax dollars, violation of diesel idling laws etc., with several instances making the nightly news, and I have been responded to by the mayor with a statement that some sort of “discipline” has been handed out.

In fact, in the Mayor’s letter to me of November 17, 2015 the mayor states “I share your concern that the delivery of fire services in an efficient and effective manner, is of paramount importance. On duty shopping using fire apparatus is not supportive of these goals”. However, Mayor Avedisian continues to allow this abuse to go unchecked. Unfortunately now, the amount and magnitude of the shopping trips is now at a point where the Warwick Fire Department is endangering the community, and creating yet another liability for the taxpayer.

On January 12 at 10:50 am The Warwick Fire Department Special Hazards vehicle arrived at the Greenwich Ave. Stop and Shop and dropped off 2 men to shop. The vehicle then proceeded to drive to the opposite end of the store, go behind the building, travel behind the building to Lowes property, and hide out behind the sheds at Lowe’s. This is the common MO. I proceeded to drive behind the building to take photos of the truck when to my astonishment, I found another piece of apparatus, Engine 9, at Stop & Shop, at the same time with a crew of 3 men, two who were inside shopping. So now the city is down 2 pieces of apparatus and 6 men, but as the mayor has indicated in his letters to me, the men have radios and they can always be rapidly deployed from the market to a call.

I have argued this point and made particular points that a piece of apparatus exiting a parking lot is handicapped in terms of a timely response due to parking and traffic issues within the lot. Particularly at the Greenwich Ave location where there are 6 speed bumps that have to be traversed in the area of pedestrian foot traffic. Anyone with a shred of common sense would have to agree to these facts.

So what are the chances that response time can be impeded by men shopping on duty? Let me lay out the time line of the incident that took place on this date Jan.12, 2018.

Prior to 10:50, men from Engine 9 where already in the store shopping. During the time frame that 6 fire fighters and 2 trucks were on the Stop & Shop property, an emergency call was received by the WFD. As the 2 pair of men were casually walking to their respective apparatus, I heard yet another siren coming from the south.

At 11:08 Ladder 1, our largest and most expensive apparatus went screaming by the Stop & Shop and appeared to take a right onto Metro Blvd. Rescue 3 followed Ladder 1, three minutes behind it. Assuming that Ladder 1 was at Station 1 in Apponaug, I estimate that from the time the call came in, until the time Ladder 1 passed Stop & Shop, no less than 4 or 5 minutes had passed and 7 to 8 minutes for Rescue 3 (give or take 60 seconds). I am currently seeking the official time of the call.

The question that I have for the Mayor, the Fire Chief, and any resident who wishes to chime in, is:

Was the response time quicker for Ladder 1 to come from Apponaug, or would the response time from Engine 9 and Special Hazards, just a few hundred yards away, have been a faster response?

Let’s take all of the emotional nonsense and hero talk out of this discussion and look at the facts, the distance, and the current location of apparatus.

I watched and photographed 4 men lazily walk out of the market with 2 racks of Soda and a small bag of groceries, wave to me and laugh, as someone just a couple blocks away required emergency response. That response had to come from miles away as these men shopped.

If it was your mother or grandmother that was having a stroke, when every second counts, would you elect to have apparatus travel 2 miles to you or 2 blocks? Put yourself or your loved one in a life or death situation, and apply the location of apparatus, the distance of the apparatus to the emergency, the priority of shopping over dispatching other apparatus from miles away and remove the hero emotional talk.

When every second counts, as we have heard Chief McLaughlin say every month, clearly, this is the exception. It is indisputable that the positioning of the apparatus at the market and the number of men at the market at the same time, compromised public safety.

I am appalled and dismayed of the cavalier attitude that these men displayed as they left the store. They even waved and blew the horn laughing, as Ladder 1 was screaming down Greenwich Avenue with Rescue 3 several minutes behind. It took about 3 minutes for these trucks to get the men in the vehicle and exit the parking lot due to the speed bumps, traffic, and pedestrian foot traffic. Yet every second counts?

I pray that the gross negligence displayed by these men had no dire consequences to the person in need, but we will never know that now, will we?

This department’s management, and the city management, is currently in a state of chaos. For any member of the Warwick Fire Department to park a vehicle in such a way as to impeded rapid egress, in my opinion, should be an offense justly rewarded with immediate termination. Unfortunately, when you have a mayor that panders to the unions, no real disciplinary action is ever taken.

On any given day, you can see apparatus parked in compromising positions of egress at all of our local markets. Emergency apparatus should be used for emergencies only. Any other use should not be tolerated by the community. I’m tired of hearing that the men have to eat, that they don’t have a normal schedule, that they don’t have enough time to have a proper meal. If they don’t have enough time to have a proper meal, how the hell do they have enough time to shop for groceries then go back to the barn to eat the meal?

If that’s the case, get your food on the way to work, stock up your groceries and store them in the stainless steel Sub Zero appliances that the taxpayer has purchased for you, instead of shopping for one slice of cheese at a time. Unfortunately, under the current mismanagement, this behavior will be rewarded.