Ever since the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue service came into existence five years ago, there have been factions within the department that for one reason or another, were never comfortable with the decision to bring under one managerial umbrella the fire departments of Union City, West New York, Weehawken, Guttenburg and North Bergen.
Those on the management side of things stated that regionalization was necessary from a safety point of view, especially considering the unique nature of Hudson County’s infrastructure. Tight, cramped streets and the densest population in the country, management argued, demanded regionalization of the formerly autonomous fire departments.
On the flip side of the coin, the rank-and-file firefighters, who for years had enjoyed the panache of working for some of the highest paid fire departments in the state, saw regionalization as a threat.
Coupled with strained contract issues that already existed prior to the decision to regionalize the fire departments, the short history of the NHRFR has been stained by tension and acrimony.
At a regular monthly meeting last week of the NHRFR in Union City, over 40 firefighters and officers came out to show their disdain at the way things have been in the department.
Listening to them was the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue Management Committee, chaired by Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner and Union City Mayor Brian Stack as well as Guttenburg Mayor David Delle Donna (who was not present). Firefighter after firefighter stood and aired their grievances, and they were many. One firefighter, wearing an orange T-shirt bearing a drawing of a tombstone listing the names of all the towns that encompass the NHRFR (with “YOU COULD BE NEXT!” at the bottom) stood and vociferously complained about all firefighters being hurt by regionalization and asked the panel who had the authority to change contracts that were already decided upon.
Management Committee Vice Chair Richard Turner replied that whatever state the firefighters’ contracts were in at this point was the result of binding arbitration that occurred when the management committee and the firefighters’ union could not come to a consensus on overtime pay, vacation time and sick pay, among other issues.
President of the North Hudson Fire Officers Association Brian McGorty stood and complained that many firefighters who had been promoted to the rank of, say, captain, were at this point not being paid for that rank. At that point, the Committee’s attorney interjected that all of this discussion were actually moot, as the contract award was under a legal investigation and any discussion of it in open meeting would be legally risky.
Grumbling over recent contract
A chorus of grumbles greeted this, as many of the assembled firefighters saw it as just another management deflection of the issues that are creating so much dissention within the NHRFR.
NHRFR Firefighters Representative Glen Michelin stood and demanded to know what the status of the waterfront firehouse was. This firehouse, to be located on River Road in West New York, has been the subject of debate from its conception. From the original design to its delayed construction, the future firehouse has been under constant scrutiny right from the beginning.
Port Imperial Project Manager Joseph Berkovich answered Michelin’s request by stating that the firehouse will be completed and handed over to the NHRFR for use in July.
When asked about the delay in construction (according to the original timeline, the facility should have been close to done at this point, but right now there’s just the footprint for a foundation), Berkovich stated that when crews began attempting to drive piles into the ground to form the foundation of the building, they kept hitting something in the ground. After digging down deeper, a boiler room was found, most likely belonging to one of the many factories that dotted the waterfront at the turn of the century, when railcars brought supplies off ships docked in West New York and Weehawken.
According to Berkovich, at the time, railroad tracks were used in building construction, and this is impossible to drill through. In fact, according to Berkovich, the workers broke three giant drill bits trying to get through the buried steel. This added time to the timeline of building the firehouse.
The explanation seemed to satisfy many of the firefighters present.
Concluded Berkovich, “We’re not hiding anything here. We’ll be developing here for at least another 10 years – we want to be good neighbors.”
Accusations draw ire
However, things took a new turn when Fire Captain Steve Winters of the 3rd Platoon, 1st Battalion stood and stated that there are huge gaps in service in many areas, especially Union City, covered by the NHRFR. He also stated that many firehouses are being “taken out of service” for such reasons as broken garage doors and repairs to trucks.
This drew the immediate ire of Union City Mayor Brian Stack, whose city in the past few years has been ravaged by fires.
“If this is happening,” said Stack, “I want to see reports! I want to know if there are gaps in coverage in my town or any other town for that matter.”
Winters also stated that “The current procedures are putting the citizens in jeopardy. There is very little planning in day-to-day operations. There is virtually no coverage on the waterfront. If a fire starts in on of those units on the waterfront, you won’t just lose apartments; you’ll lose entire complexes. You can bank on that!”
Perhaps the most shocking thing Winters said was that it has, on occasion, taken him upwards of half an hour to fuel a fire truck. As the only fuel pump for all the fire apparatus in the region is located on Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, this effectively takes a truck out of service for a good chunk of time.
NHRFR Co-Director Jeff Welz and many of the assembled fire officers exchanged bemused glances and when questioned by Stack and Turner if they had ever heard of such a thing, they could only shake their heads and answer “no.” Said NHRFR Co-Director Mike DiOrio, “If this is happening, this is the first I am hearing of it.” DiOrio and Welz promised an investigation into Winters’ accusations, and two days after the meeting, they did just that.
The result of that investigation appears to have put Capt. Winters in some hot water.
According to the investigation, each of the NHRFR’s deputies in charge of the day-to-day operations of the fire department responded to the investigation begun by Fire Chief Brion McEldowney. Not one of them, including Winters’ deputy, acknowledged knowing anything about any of the accusations made by Winters during last week’s meeting. And in a conversation with NHRFR Co-Director Jeff Welz, he said that the department may seek disciplinary action against Winters.
Said Welz, “There were some things said at the meeting that we believe to be blatantly false. This is serious because we have a fire officer that is making false statements. And at the very least, he went around the chain of command. None of us had ever heard of these complaints or concerns before. Why wouldn’t he bring them to our attention at an earlier date?”
But why would Winters stick his neck out so far in an open meeting if there wasn’t a grain of truth to his allegations?
Welz seemed to think that it comes down to money. Said Welz, “This is all about the contract.”
However, Captain Brian McGorty, president of the NHRFR Fire Officers Association, is concerned about the attention being paid to Winters’ comments. Said McGorty in a telephone conversation, “A lot of the things that he brought up have been brought up before. I think he brought up some good points. They [the officers] are just pissed that he went around the chain of command. They are interpreting it as him trying to embarrass them. There really are bigger issues out there than this.”
Added McGorty, “My concern here is that a member has voiced an opinion and he is being chastised for it. That’s not to say that members should make irresponsible comments. Not that he [Winters] did, but that certainly is the managers’ outlook.”
Winters could not be reached for comment.