Copyright 2006 San Antonio Express-News
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By LAURA E. JESSE
San Antonio Express-News (Texas)

If the company that makes the Fire Department's faulty air tanks doesn't deliver permanent solutions in a timely manner or reimburse the city for $1.8 million, Mayor Phil Hardberger said Thursday the company will find itself with a hefty lawsuit.

Hardberger's threat is the latest flareup in a dispute with Interspiro Inc., whose self-contained breathing apparatus has malfunctioned at least 174 times since the San Antonio Fire Department began using the device last summer.

"They've come down here and sent their engineers, so they've quote 'done the right thing' — in a word sense," Hardberger said following City Manager Sheryl Sculley's update to City Council. "I don't want to hear it got dropped on the floor or banged into something. That's no excuse. These are supposed to be made for firefighting, they're going to get dropped and banged into things."

The company has maintained that some of the issues with the equipment are from rough handling on the part of the firefighters.

In the meantime, the Fire Department is beginning evaluations of alternative gear so the city will be ready to purchase new apparatus if Interspiro can't provide acceptable solutions.

Interspiro officials met with department brass and Assistant City Manager Erik Walsh early this month to talk about the results of a Southwest Research Institute investigation into the equipment. At that meeting Fire Chief Robert Ojeda delivered a letter to the company president, demanding resolutions for six issues and a timeline for the solutions to be implemented.

At the time Ojeda said he would wait for the company's response to determine how much longer he would wait for a resolution. After the company responded, Assistant Chief Carl Wedige said Interspiro needed to clarify a couple issues.

Hardberger is a little less patient with the timelines.

"The clock is ticking," he said. "I don't have a specific date in mind, but our patience is wearing thin."

Deputy Chief Rodney Hitzfelder issued a safety alert Tuesday outlining another problem where the valve core inside the bypass valve is breaking. The breakage causes the air hose from the tank to the face mask to become permanently detached.

Ojeda said during a news conference Thursday that department technicians had replaced 50 suspicious or broken valves.

Sculley said the latest problem is much too serious to give Interspiro much longer.

"We're going to look at other equipment while we allow (Interspiro) to replace the valves," Sculley said. "This is a tough business and the equipment needs to be able to handle firefighting."

Interspiro will replace the valve cores in all 1,000-plus masks in the department, which could take a week if the company does not need to modify the design. If they do, it could take up to a month.

Chris Steele, president of the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association, said every issue with the equipment is a big issue and firefighters have lost confidence in the equipment.

"These are more fit for a museum than they are for firefighting," he said. "Everything has to be done delicately and that's not how we work."