By Navid Iqbal
Herald News (Passaic County, NJ)
Copyright 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.,
All Rights Reserved
CLIFTON, N.J. — The firefighters union filed a grievance with the city, saying obligatory out-of-town training forced the temporary shutdown of two firehouses on four occasions over the past month.
The Firemen’s Mutual Benevolent Association Local 21 said in the complaint that sending officers to the training violated a minimum staffing agreement they had with the city.
The latest closing, of Fire Station 1,occurred Tuesday, according to the complaint.
The grievance comes in the context of ongoing contract negotiations with the city. While the union head said the grievance and contract talks were unrelated, staffing issues have been raised under similar circumstances in 2002 and 1998. The firefighters’ contract expired Dec. 31.
Normally, four firefighters are assigned to a fire engine, ladder truck or other apparatus per shift at each of the city’s six firehouses. The minimum number of firefighters per shift throughout the city, including ranking officers, is 27, said union President Lt. Nick Marchisello.
But several officers have been receiving federally mandated instruction at the Passaic County Fire Academy since January. City firefighters are paid to attend department-mandated training.
Starting on Jan. 29, a fire station was closed because not enough people could operate an apparatus, said Marchisello.
On Feb. 8, Fire Station 1 on First and Madison avenues was closed from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., he said. He said that two other stations also were closed temporarily on separate occasions since then. “It’s strictly a safety issue. It’s a safety issue that has to be addressed,” Marchisello said.
He said that staffing had been a consistent concern of his, not just at contract talks time.
Chief John E. Dubravsky said that training sometimes resulting in temporary station closings had been taking place “for many, many years.” He said that mutual aid agreements with neighboring fire departments are the contingency plan in place in case an emergency occurred while the firefighters were getting trained.
“If the academy was in Clifton, we wouldn’t have to send our firefighters to Wayne,” Dubravsky said.