Station Night Club Fire Legacy?

[tekpfd]

The following is a letter that I sent to the many local and national labor leaders (especially ff labor leaders). I believe that those 100 victims should not have died in vain. I think the FF's in West Warwick were true heroes that night - going way above and beyond the call....but they were woefully undermanned. Just as most fire departments are....and it's getting worse.



Mr. -----:

It is with my utmost respect for the tremendous efforts and bravery exhibited during this terrible national tragedy by the firefighters of West Warwick (and the brother firefighters of their neighboring communities) that I make the following suggestion.

Those of us in the fire service, especially those who know of the staffing levels in West Warwick that fateful night, realize that a great many lives could have been saved if the levels of manpower riding the WWFD’s fire apparatus were up to the NFPA standard of 4 per truck. If there were more than simply two firefighters on the first arriving engine company and two (or 1?) firefighters on the first arriving ladder company. Also, there were a mere 11 firefighters on duty in the entire town that night.

I realize that we (firefighters) hate to criticize the jobs of other fire departments publicly. I believe that this fact has led to the unfortunate fact that the inadequate staffing levels of the WWFD (and other fire departments across the country) has been all but completely ignored by the general public with regards to this tragedy. None of us in the fire service want to point the finger and say that our department could have saved more lives, but the plain and simple truth is that any department with more resources would have saved more people that night strictly due to the added manpower arriving early in the incident. This fact cannot be ignored. Many of the people trapped in the doorways, especially those near the bottom and toward the exit, did not succumb prior to the arrival of the fire department. Many could have been saved if an adequate number of well-equipped firefighters arrived on the scene in a timely manner.

Any of us in the fire service with any experience could recognize the fact that the only way to save anyone from that building that night was time critical and manpower dependent – both luxuries that the WWFD did not have that evening (or any other evening). One firefighter manning a 2 ½” fog line covering the victims and many other firefighters with saws and axes immediately disassembling the doorframe was the only chance for any type of partial success at this fire. The men of the WWFD did all that they could do with the limited resources available to them. I truly believe that they acted heroically that night – above and beyond the call of duty.

Partially because of this fact, I believe that many in the fire service have been reluctant to state their personal beliefs on this fire in regards to the manpower issue - somehow thinking that this would cast aspersions on the members of the WWFD, or criticizing their efforts or skills. The Providence Journal did an article on this very subject and as you and COD Charles Hall stated that neither of you could be sure that additional manpower could have saved any additional lives, Mr. Bauer (West Warwick’s Town Manager) stated quite forcefully that the fire trucks in his town are adequately staffed and that the NFPA standard of 4 men p/truck was “ridiculous”.

The leadership of the firefighters of this town (WWFD’s local), this state (the RI State Association of Firefighters), and this nation (the IAFF) lost an incredible opportunity to showcase the inadequacies of the staffing levels of the fire departments across this entire country! We need a leader who will watch that tape footage and put his reputation and credentials on the line and state that it is his firm opinion that adequately staffed apparatus and an adequately staffed fire department would have definitely saved additional lives at this fire. We need to sound as convinced of our opinions as municipal leaders such as Mr. Bauer sound of theirs. We need to convince the general public that we are looking out for their safety and the safety of their loved ones! By using this tragedy to point out the vulnerability of municipal cutbacks in the fire service and how it affects their welfare we can drive home the message that we need more firefighters on the streets – not less! Also, by pointing out that no present firefighter will gain any benefit from the implementation of such a plan other than a safer work environment, the politicians can’t try to convince the public that we’re being money hungry or greedy.

I believe that although the lack of aggressive action on the part of our leaders at the time of the fire has hurt our cause, I think we have another opportunity to bring these issues to the bright lights of the media – the upcoming Civil Trials of the defendants. I would hope that you could contact the victim’s attorneys and offer your considerable resources and statistics to them. If these attorneys could make a case of negligence against the leaders of the Town of West Warwick – holding them personally liable for the inadequate resources of the WWFD it would clearly send a message to all those politicians considering cutting the staffing levels of our departments. There is a belief that nothing changes on its own merits politically or corporately and that the only considerations are the bottom line (money) and liability. If we can make a case to hold our political leaders personally responsible for their willingness to trade public safety for the bottom line (tax hikes) we can change the direction of fire department staffing being consistently downsized. Showcasing how our lack of manpower and resources affect public safety and holding the politicians personally responsible for cutting our departments to dangerous levels would be the best way, in my opinion, to fight this trend.

In closing, I’d like to say that I hope you don’t take this letter as a personal criticism of your actions – it is not meant that way. It is my sincere hope that you consider the possible benefits in assisting the victims in the Civil Court. I think that all of us in the fire service at that time were reluctant to state anything that might be interpreted as a criticism of the WWFD. I think enough time has passed that we can tactfully address this situation in the proper manner. Those 100 victims who perished that night should at least carry a legacy of changing the public safety standards of this country and allow their sacrifice to save additional lives in the future – just as the victims of the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire and the Coconut Grove Nightclub fire have done.


In brotherhood,