By Sally Goldenberg
Staten Island Advance
NEW YORK — As the number of city firefighters applying for disability retirement continues to crawl in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the city is grasping at better ways to expedite the process. To that end, the City Council yesterday unanimously approved a measure that would speed up the process for disabled firefighters seeking retirement.
The legislation, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg supports, expands the medical boards that process the retirement applications for disabled firefighters.
“Having only one medical board to process these retirement requests is not sufficient and has created an extensive backlog in the system,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) said in a prepared statement on the legislation.
“This expansion will allow the board to process any outstanding applications and will more expediently process future applications for disability retirement.”
Speaker Quinn said the number of disability retirement applications in the FDNY jumped to 719 in 2003, from 404 in 1999. During the first four months of this year, the medical board received 240 applications.
Lt. Martin Fullam of Annadale, who is on medical leave from the FDNY as he copes with polymyositis, expressed relief at news of the legislation.
His illness, coupled with other ailments his doctors attribute to his work at Ground Zero, has left him with a 40 percent lung capacity.
Lt. Fullam plans to apply for retirement in a year and said the process has been tedious for his colleagues and friends who have similar medical conditions.
“It takes a long time. Pretty much your hands are tied with this when you retire,” Lt. Fullam said. “It was taking as long as four years to get finalized. It’s good news that they’re gonna speed guys along.”
He also noted that retirees do not receive full pensions until the process is complete.
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