Pubdate: Mon, 20 Dec 2004
Source: New York Daily News (NY)
Copyright: 2004 Daily News, L.P.
Contact:  http://www.nydailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/295
Author: Fernanda Santos
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/zero+tolerance

EAGER TO SEE '04 BURN TO ASHES

It Was A Year The Fire Department Would Like To Forget.

Last New Year's Eve, an afternoon of boozing inside a Staten Island
firehouse touched off a drunken brawl that nearly killed one of the
city's Bravest.

The firefighters inside Engine 151/Ladder 76 - nicknamed Southern
Comfort - had been drinking for at least an hour when the fight
erupted over a homophobic slur. The scandal exposed an out-of-control
firehouse where firefighters had gone out on a beer run while on duty
and then scrambled to cover up the disgraceful attack.

FDNY brass acted swiftly to punish everyone involved. But in the weeks
and months that followed, a series of arrests and scandals shamed the
department - none more than allegations by a Staten Island mother that
she had sex with three firefighters in a Bronx firehouse in August.

The FDNY, beloved by the city and the world after the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks, suddenly found itself on the defensive.

"These are actions of a very small group of firefighters, but,
unfortunately, it generated a lot of headlines," Chief of Department
Peter Hayden told the Daily News recently. "The impression is that
we're out of control, and we recognize that this perception needs to
be corrected."

Within the year's first six months, three firefighters tested positive
for cocaine, including the driver of a fire truck that crashed in the
Bronx, injuring 12 people and damaging seven parked cars. Through
November, 45 firefighters were nabbed for allegedly driving drunk,
nearly double the number of drunk-driving arrests in 2003.

To curb drug and alcohol abuse, the FDNY adopted a set of tough
measures to punish firefighters who break the rules.

Following the Staten Island brawl, the department stepped up surprise
visits to firehouses to deter firefighters from drinking on the job.
The first inspection, on Jan. 18 at Engine 53/Ladder 43 in East
Harlem, yielded a locker full of liquor. Since then, there have been
24 inspections, with no alcohol found.

In February, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta announced a plan to
test firefighters randomly for drugs. Anyone who failed the tests
would be fired - a provision the firefighters' union found
unforgiving.

"In the wake of 9/11, when experts predicted the need for additional
counseling in the FDNY, the commissioner's response was, instead, to
pursue a zero-tolerance policy, driving those with problems
underground," Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve
Cassidy said after a Dec. 7 "no confidence" vote against Scoppetta.

But Scoppetta has stood his ground. The commissioner maintains that
his tough policy is not simply a way to punish firefighters. It is,
instead, a way to convince people who have a drug or alcohol problem
to seek help.

"We want to get people into treatment," Scoppetta told The
News.

If firefighters decline counseling, "the zero tolerance is there to
tell them that the Fire Department is not a place for people who abuse
drugs and alcohol," Scoppetta said. "That discipline is,
unfortunately, necessary."

In four months, the FDNY has administered 727 drug tests and seven
have come back positive - less than 1%. Of the seven firefighters who
tested positive, two have lost their jobs, and discipline is pending
against the others.

The FDNY also has fired Christian Waugh, a firefighter at the center
of the Bronx sex scandal at Engine 75/Ladder 33.

"Overwhelmingly, we don't have a discipline problem," Hayden said. "We
have a small core of guys who have caused problems, but I think we've
taken a lot of positive steps to gain control of discipline and
penalize those members in a fair way. Unfortunately, the actions of a
few while on duty tarnish us all."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin