Fire fight rages on

Rescue attempts are underway to restore millions of dollars in cuts to the Philadelphia Fire Department.

In June, the department’s budget was slashed by about $7 million and the city announced that four engine and four ladder companies were on the chopping block.

Ladder 11, 12th and Reed streets, and Engine 1, Broad and Fitzwater streets, were among the doomed.

Last week, City Council unanimously approved appropriation of the missing $7 million, said Bob Previdi, spokesperson for Council President Anna Verna.

The bill is expected to be finalized Oct. 28, he added.

Council members also are busy trying to reverse another of the administration’s cutbacks.

On Tuesday, Council’s Committee of the Whole gave preliminary approval to restoring recreation center funding, which also had been cut by $7 million.

However, Council members acknowledge that Mayor John Street could simply veto any measure to return funds to the fire department.

Similarly, the Council appropriations for the fire companies are no guarantee that they will stay open, cautioned Firefighters and Medics Union Local 22 Vice President Bill Gault.

"This is all a personal vendetta with the mayor because we didn’t back him the last election," the vice president contended of the fire cuts. Local 22 supported Sam Katz in last year’s mayoral election.

In the meantime, eight companies that were to close July 1 remain open — at least for now.

At a Common Pleas Court hearing July 6, Judge Matthew Carrafiello extended a temporary restraining order petition filed by members of Local 22.

"The city actually expected this to go down without a fight — with no public hearings, nothing," said Gault.

Local 22 and the city have been embroiled in grievance arbitration for the last few weeks.

The union has subpoenaed the city’s safety analysis studies, which the administration claims support its decision to eliminate eight companies.

According to Gault, city officials admitted at one of the arbitration hearings that tests had been conducted after announcement of the closures.

"They should have done it beforehand," noted Gault.

Union reps have been pushing for an independent impact study by an outside firm, and they also have demanded public hearings on the pending closures, claiming citizens’ safety is at risk.

"We want them to do an unbiased study. Council allocated $200,000 for an independent study but the fire department would not give them the data needed to do the study," Gault alleged.

Former Fire Commissioner Harold Hairston — who retired in the summer amid a firestorm of controversy over the cuts — previously had cited a decrease in the number of structure fires in the city as justification for the closures.

"They keep using this thing about structure fires being down. Yes, structure fires are down, but they tore down all the vacant buildings [in the city]," claimed Gault.

Furthermore, firefighters respond to more than structure fires, added the union rep.

"All our runs are up and we have the figures to prove it," Gault maintained.

An outspoken critic of the fire cuts, First District Councilman Frank DiCicco has been at the forefront of the crusade to retain the fire companies — five of which are in his district.

Immediately after the mayor’s hit list went public in June, the councilman fired off two statements to the media denouncing the closures. He has attended rallies across the city, including a July meeting at the Clef Club, Broad and Fitzwater streets.

At that meeting, DiCicco said the fire cuts would save the city $6.7 million — "a mere drop in the bucket for the city’s $3.5-billion projected budget."

At the last arbitration hearing, held last Wednesday, the city requested more time to present its case.

"Which is all right because the longer we stall, the longer they stay open," Gault said.

The next hearings will be held Tuesday, Oct. 28 and Nov. 12. Carrafiello’s extension of the temporary restraining order remains in effect until the end of arbitration.