Report calls for hiring Boston fire vehicle inspector

By John C. Drake
The Boston Globe

AP Photo/John Cetrino
Firefighters respond to the scene of the Jan. 9 crash that killed a Boston firefighter.

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BOSTON — An outside consultant concluded that the Boston Fire Department has failed to adequately maintain its firetrucks and that the city should hire an inspector to ensure the vehicles are safe, Boston Fire Commissioner Roderick J. Fraser said yesterday.

"It's going to say pretty much the same thing I've already said, that preventive maintenance is not being done," Fraser said in a telephone interview.

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The report, prepared by Mercury Associates, a Maryland-based organization, is to be presented today to Fraser, who has planned a meeting with firefighter union representatives to discuss its recommendations.

Fraser and union representatives have been wrangling over the lack of basic maintenance on the city's fleet of firetrucks since the Jan. 9 death of Lieutenant Kevin M. Kelley after the brakes apparently failed on a ladder truck in Mission Hill. Within a week of the crash, a citywide inspection of firetrucks found at least four ladder trucks and four fire engines with problems serious enough to take them out of service for repairs.

Fraser said the report will recommend that the city hire a fleet manager to oversee a preventive maintenance regimen. "We may have to contract out some additional help to do these procedures" on top of hiring additional maintenance staff, he said.

The Globe reported in January that the city does not follow manufacturer recommendations for basic maintenance of its firefighting apparatus. The ladder truck involved in the Jan. 9 crash had not had its brakes inspected since March 2008, even though E-ONE, the manufacturer of that truck and 43 others in the city's fleet, recommends they be done at least every three months.

Edward Kelly, president of Local 718, had faulted administration officials for failing to put a maintenance schedule in place, but Fraser said his efforts to hire licensed mechanics have been rebuffed by the union. The department has a maintenance division of 12 uniformed firefighters who are not licensed mechanics.

A week after the fatal crash, Mayor Thomas M. Menino ordered the Fire Department to hire four licensed mechanics without negotiating the move with union representatives.

Last night, Kelly said he had not seen the report but added that the union would not oppose a recommendation to hire an inspector to oversee maintenance.