By Mike LaBella
The Eagle-Tribune
HAVERHILL, Mass. — It all started with the city’s Highway Department scandal.
Haverhill installed GPS devices in the department’s trucks when longtime Highway Superintendent James Flaherty and his son Kevin, an official in the department, were charged with using their positions for personal gain.
State investigators and members of the public said Highway Department vehicles were seen at paving jobs being done by private companies owned by the Flahertys, who were later found guilty of stealing from the city.
Now, Haverhill has placed GPS devices in its firetrucks. The move comes as Mayor James Fiorentini and firefighters feud over issues such as abuse of sick time and the city receives complaints about fire trucks parked in certain places for long periods of time.
Fire Chief Richard Borden said the new Internet-based tracking system plots the location of firetrucks and will help improve emergency response and conserve fuel — as well as help him to better respond to public complaints about trucks being parked too long in one place.
Borden said the system will also make his department more transparent to the public.
“It won’t tell you what the activity is, just the location of the vehicles,” he said, explaining that anyone will be able to go on the Internet and see the location of the trucks.
Paul Weinburgh, the president of the firefighters union, said his group is worried about the ability of anyone to check the location of firetrucks.
He also questioned whether it is a good idea for the public to be able to see where the city’s fire engines are at all times.
“The codes are out there,” Weinburgh said, referring to codes that are needed to access the Web site that shows the locations of the firetrucks. “It could be used against us if someone was looking to do something bad,” such as set a fire in a part of the city far from the trucks if they were all occupied at another emergency.
Weinburgh said the firefighters union has filed a grievance against the city for what he called “the arbitrary use of the GPS” in some Fire Department vehicles but not all of them.
“We don’t have a problem with using GPS for public safety, but it shouldn’t be used for discipline and to harass us,” Weinburgh said. “Talk about Big Brother. It’s ridiculous.”
He said the devices have been installed in the department’s four primary engines, two reserve engines that are kept at the volunteer stations at Rocks Village and Ayers Village, the primary ladder truck and the reserve ladder truck.
Weinbrugh said the devices have not been installed in the fire chief’s official car nor any of the vehicles used by the Fire Department’s deputies or inspectors.
The mayor said his gut feeling is that he “likes where Borden is going with this new system” but said he will not comment further until he meets with officials of the firefighters union. He said the union has expressed concerns about how the tracking information is being used.
“We’re going to meet, the union and myself, and discuss this further although we have not set a time or date,” Fiorentini said. “By my next term I want to turn down the acrimony and bitterness with the union and I don’t want to comment until I hear what they have to say.”
Fiorentini has been feuding with the firefighters union in recent months over contract issues as well as an investigation he launched into sick time abuse by firefighters.
The system is similar to one the Highway Department installed last year to monitor the location its vehicles, such as city snow plows.
Borden said using an Internet-based program called TeleNav Track, he can track the movements of fire trucks on his office computer screen. The public is being given access to the data, which can be accessed at www.telenavtrack.com. The information is available by entering the user name “firetrucks@cityofhaverhill.com” and the password “public.”
He said some of the system’s management features are not available to the public, such as how many times a fire truck responded to calls at a particular address or what kind of call it responded to.
Fiorentini said the union representing workers at the Highway Department were initially skeptical about being monitored.
“We met with them, talked to them and were able to allay their fears that it was something they could live with,” Fiorentini said. “It proved beneficial, such as in an incident where a lady said a snowplow damaged her car and we were able to show that it wasn’t one of our (Highway Department) vehicles.”
Fiorentini said the system was put in place at the Highway Department to provide accountability of city-owned vehicles after the Flaherty case.
Borden said the Fire Department GPS tracking system, which cost less than $5,000, should result in long-term savings.
He said emergency dispatchers are using the system to send the closest appropriate “available” apparatus to any emergency call, resetting of a fire alarm box and non-emergency calls.
“Say Engine 2 is out doing an abandoned building inspection in the area of Howard Street and a medical call comes in for Arlington Street, which is relatively close to it. Dispatch would see that Engine 2 is closer to the call than Engine 3 and would better be able to serve the call,” Borden said.
In instances where a firetruck is out on the road on business, such as resetting an alarm box, dispatch can direct it to another call instead of sending a second vehicle, Borden said.
“That saves fuel, wear and tear on the apparatus and keeps that apparatus in a position where it can best respond to an emergency,” Borden said.
When Borden receives complaints from the public, such as when a resident claims a firetruck was parked on their street for several hours, he must review sometimes lengthy computer records to find the truth. The new system speeds up that search, he said.
“It validates the truth,” he said. “And if we get a call saying the firefighters did a great job, we can tell who was there.”
Copyright 2009