Prior to Wednesday’s city council meeting, the emotional high point had come at the Nov. 17 public hearing on the budget when firefighter Jim Aldridge accused council of asking him to choose between his family and potential fire victims.
Aldridge’s argument came in response to the proposed reduction of minimum fire crews from four people to three. While the city would still attempt to field four-person crews, it would no longer pay overtime to maintain a minimum of four when one crew member was unavailable.
The policy change could result in about $120,000 in lower costs. However, three-person crews would not be in compliance with the National Fire Protection Association’s “two in, two out” policy. The “two in, two out” policy calls for two firefighters available outside a structure fire to assist each two that enter.
Aldridge argued that if he arrived at a structure fire as part of a three-person crew and then died trying to save someone in violation of the “two in, two out” policy, his family would lose out on significant potential benefits.
“That lady sitting over there against the wall doesn’t get any of my benefits — nothing,” said Aldridge, indicating his wife in the audience.
Joe Sciallo, former president of Local 515, unequivocally supported Aldridge’s claim following the meeting, saying that firefighters’ survivors could lose out on state and federal benefits if they died while violating the NFPA policy.
“If we violate the standard — not the law, mind you — we will get zero for the families,” Sciallo stated in an interview with the Tribune.
City Manager Andy Walker contradicted Aldridge’s claims immediately following the Nov. 17 hearing, saying that firefighters in the hypothetical situation would definitely receive city pension benefits. Walker was uncertain about state and federal benefits at the time.
On Wednesday, in a presentation much less emotional than many of the public comments heard during recent meetings, Walker stated that research by city staff members had discovered no support for the firefighters’ claims. His presentation indicated that “eligibility for state, federal, local and/or private death benefits are not tied to the ... ‘two in, two out’ standard.”
Before Walker’s presentation, former union vice president Lt. Joe Smock admitted that the previous claims may have been exaggerated.
“I believe in Pennsylvania you would get your benefits,” he said.
Capt. Jill Staaf, who succeeded Sciallo as union president this week, was noncommittal on the topic.
“There isn’t case law yet one way or the other,” she said.
Staaf’s position on the death benefit issue marks a sharp departure from the ones taken just weeks earlier by fellow union members Aldridge and Sciallo and undermines one of the more memorable arguments made by opponents to fire department reductions during recent public meetings.
However, it still leaves open other questions related to reduced response times and decreased safety levels.
Mike Crowley can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.
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