Providence,RI Hires 83 Firefighters

Thanks Mike for that info.

The FULL Responsibility for creating the worst nightmare in the history of the Providence, RI Fire Dept bears directly on the man speaking in that video. The Mayor of Providence.

Most seasoned members of the department felt that his move to eliminate an entire shift of on duty firefighters was in retaliation to the Providence FD for NOT endorsing him as mayor. Despite his claim that this was in an effort to save the city money, he did NOT cut any other departments within the city.

The mayor in breaking the written contract between the city and it's firefighters broke that deal with NO agreement made by increasing each firefighters weekly schedule from a 42 hour work week to a 56 hour work week. In exchange the mayor decided to give them a 2 % pay raise.

Those that had the opportunity to retire left. Each member leaving left the department short forcing the city to hire mandatory overtime. A once very well organized, aggressive and trained fire dept began to loose it's high moral.

The city firefighters fought this and won their case. They went back to a 42 hour work week but were now short over one quarter of the entire dept. The mayor pushed for the closing of the two slowest engine companies and the slowest ladder company. That resulted in the closing of Engines 4 and 5, and Ladder 4. All companies assigned to the most prestigious and expensive area of the city, along with many of the colleges in that area.

With one quarter of the department new probies, that presents a problem in itself. And as the article says, another group of new probies is expected to start soon as well. Leaving almost HALF of the entire Fire Dept with less than One Year or so on the job.

A couple of the guys on this site came up to visit last spring and got to hear the story themselves from a veteran member of the department.

It's a mess and the city owes it all to their mayor, who actually ended up costing the city MORE Money because of a huge overtime expense caused by his political wisdom.
 
Glad for PFD members.  Busy department, great members.  They deserve back pay and overdue pay increase.  Too bad city reduced staffing per shift.
 
mikeindabronx said:
http://www.wpri.com/news/dan-mcgowan/top-paid-providence-firefighter-averaged-97-hours-a-week-in-2017/1172079182
Click to expand...

Thanks very much Mike for posting this and keeping us updated. This started because the mayor did NOT want to hire replacement firefighters after some retirements, and instead on his own, ORDERED ALL firefighters to work from a 42 hour work week to a 56 hour work week, in direct violation of the written contract between the City of Providence and it's firefighters of IAFF Local 799.

What the story did NOT tell was the huge affect this had on guys with families. Wives never got to see their husbands and kids didn't get to see their fathers (in a few cases it was reversed with Providence's female firefighters). When they did get to see them for a short period of time, they needed to rest up to go back to work for the next shift.

A few of us from this site had visited the Providence FD. A friend, a Providence Firefighter, had planned to show us around for the day. He had just finished working 38 hours straight and had to be back into work at 18:00 hours for the evening tour. He told us most likely he won't get to go home in the morning.

This is a very active department and over tired and fatigued firefighters were injured at a much higher rate. Costing the city additional money due to these injures.

Lawns weren't mowed, homes were not maintained. There were few vacations enjoyed together as a family.

Very experienced fire officers and firefighters left that most likely would have stayed on the job had things been different. A HUGE amount of firefighting experience was lost by this mayors FOOLISH move breaking an agreed union contract between the City of Providence and it's Firefighters.

Now the result is what most firefighters knew. The city willingly broke that written agreement and that mayor actually ended up costing the taxpayers more than if things were left as it was.

A FAILED POLITICAL DECISION with NOBODY to blame for it but the MAYOR HIMSELF. I know that other cities were looking into following this as well. I THINK Hartford, Ct (?) was one of them.

Not only did this cost the taxpayers more money but it resulted in family and home issues, and a huge loss of a group of very experienced firefighters who are NOT there now to guide and teach the younger members.

It also resulted in the closing of Two Engine companies and One Ladder company in the most prestigious area of the city. As well as the first or second due companies to the college area of Brown University and a few other well known colleges. 

The prediction is that with the new probie class to begin, more than one half (about 200 members) of the entire Providence FD will have less than 3 years on the job.
 
One of the newest Providence Fire Recruits was injured when he fell off a ladder during training.

What is also news is that these Providence recruits are NOT being trained in Providence, but at the Fire Academy in New Haven, Ct., about 100 miles from Providence, RI.

I believe the class prior to that was trained at the Boston Fire Academy.

The reason... the training buildings in Providence have been deemed "UNSAFE".

Here is the story of that Providence Firefighter Recruit who was injured when he fell while training in New Haven, Ct

www.wfsb.com/story/38374271/firefighter-injured-during-recruit-training-exercise 
 
A prior Providence class at Boston Fire Academy:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv_fQRd8xG4
 
http://www.wpri.com/news/new-england/connecticut/providence-fire-recruit-injured-in-fall-at-new-haven-training-academy/1224735392

Providence fire recruit injured in fall at New Haven training academy
 
Providence has gone to New Haven for at least the last couple years to do the scaler?s they usually split the class in half. about 40 at a time and they go for a few days.
 
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