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." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin