Budget Cuts Kill and Destroy

Lawrence, Mass. and Philadelphia, Pa. are the two latest cities to learn the hard way that cutting fire departments to save money threatens lives and property. On July 1, Lawrence laid off 23 of its firefighters, reducing its staffing to 72 firefighters, compared to 130 just one year ago. That reduction was accompanied by warnings from its fire chief that the city faced the prospect of losing a neighborhood with such reduced staffing. On Sunday, Aug. 8, that danger was illustrated when an abandoned mill complex was hit by two separate multiple alarm fires in one day, exhausting the capacity of not only the 15 Lawrence firefighters on duty but also that of 12 to 14 surrounding communities which provided mutual aid. "Within five minutes of being there, we were completely out of equipment and people, Deputy Fire Chief John Marsh said of the first fire, reported the Boston Globe. "We waited almost half an hour for a ladder truck to show up from Lowell." The first fire required mutual aid from 12 surrounding communities, and the second, an even larger four-alarm blaze, required help from 14, including the 12 that responded to the first fire.

No one died in the Lawrence fires, but the same cannot be said for an Aug. 7, Saturday night house fire in Philadelphia, which took the life of a 12-year-old autistic boy. That death is being blamed by local residents and the city's fire union on Mayor Michael Nutter's brownout plan, in which 3 fire stations per day are being closed to save money, which began on July 27. The station closest to where the boy lived was indeed closed that day, although city officials, including Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers insist that the brownout of that station had nothing to do with the boy's death. Instead, Ayers blamed the boy's mother, who was rescued, for not having smoke detectors and an escape plan for the boy. City officials say the first truck arrived in three minutes, a figure disputed by neighbors, but Bill Gault, the president of the fire union, said had the closer fire house been open, the response would have been under a minute and there would have been a chance to save the boy. Gault told the Philadelphia Inquirer that "This is just a Russian roulette game, and now a kid is dead." Five other row houses on the block were also damaged, displacing 15 people.