Gloucester Just Won’t Go Away

Boston Globe photo

It has been just four days since we posted a list of questions to the Gloucester, Massachusetts, City Council (HERE) regarding the fatal fire and the seriously undermanned fire department.  Yet many things have come to light about the city’s misfeasance since then.

At first it was just a big fire in the heart of downtown….an old apartment building that was constructed 90+ years ago as a hospital.  Spectacular, but not unique.  Tragic because of the sad death of a well-known tenant, but not unique.  Costly to the city’s crumbling tax base, but still….not unique.

But one glaring report from the fire shot out like a comet.  The ladder truck that was the only hope for the rescue of the trapped tenant arrived with only the driver, nobody to raise the ladders.  For the last four years or so, the Council and the Mayor have been playing a shell game with the FD’s staffing levels and this time it came back and bit them “big time,” as the wags say.

Suddenly the newspapers and the citizens lost their lethargy and became interested in what is going on.  Questions were being raised about allowing a decrepit building that the fire chief called a “fire trap” to be occupied.  And the drastic reduction in safety and building inspections from a gutted Inspections Dept.  And of course, the facade of fire trucks with hardly anybody on them.  We pointed out HERE that three years ago the neighboring towns were chastising Gloucester for scratching on nearly 2/3 of their mutual aid calls because of staffing issues.

City Hall

Now the train is rolling.  The newspapers are probing and sending reporters to seek out former tenants and city employees.  One of our readers who logs in as “KingCast” has been doing heavy on-the-ground research into the city’s code enforcement policies and has been posting his findings in the comments section of the entry linked up in the first paragraph of this article.  He is a lawyer, I believe, so you can trust his research abilities.  When you have a moment, read his continuing updates HERE.

The Gloucester Daily Times has been out tracking down the tenants and asking questions around city hall, and has even linked to Firegeezer in their reporters’ blog page.  The Newburyport News has been poking around too, locating former tenants who told about their visit to the fire station across the street because they were worried for their safety.

One day, her husband encouraged her to go to the fire station to see firefighters to possibly ease her fears. She asked what plans were in place for the building and the answer she received was “the last straw.”

“They said, ‘Our plan is to watch it go up like a tinderbox,’” she said. “I said ‘Oh my God, there is no hope.’”

And now the Boston Globe has come back into the picture with an in-depth ARTICLE on how many smaller FD’s in the state are slashing their fire and rescue rosters (in order to prop up their feel-good social programs? …. FG).  Not surprisingly, the only solution the politicians can offer is to raise the already-high taxes even more.  Not a hint of running a more efficient government.  Massachusetts is consistently ranked in the top 5 of the states imposing the heaviest tax burden on its citizens.  And yet none of those states farther down the list seem to have a problem putting 3 or 4 firefighters on every truck.  So, where is all that money going?

Note:  The IAFF and the Gloucester Local have sure been quiet during this.  At least I haven’t seen anything coming out of there.  But on the other hand, as long as everybody is busy watching the Mayor and the Council digging their hole, there’s no need to pull their attention away.

All right, it’s getting late.  Let’s get the equipment checked out and I’ll go start the coffee.

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