The New Haven mayor is stepping in to fix the city's fire department and has enlisted an independent agency to look into policy and procedures that are now under scrutiny.
It comes in light of criticism in response to the department's handling of a massive August blaze that destroyed Delaney's Taproom, a historic pub on Whalley Avenue.
After complaints surfaced about Asst. Fire Chief Patrick Egan's instruction at the fire scene, Egan was placed on paid administrative leave. The incident remains under investigation.
The fire department is also playing catch-up on mandated state fire reports. The state fire marshal wrote a memo to city officials stating that the office had not received any incident reports yet this year.
"The city acknowledges that it has fallen behind filing fire reports with the State Fire Marshal's Office. There was an administrative glitch, so some of those reports have not been filed as intended," said the mayor's spokesperson, Laurence Grotheer.
A lack of staffing and hefty overtime bills have also raised questions, according to the city. Officials said some of the problems began creeping in before current Chief Allyn Wright took over.
"I take it day by day. It just seems like every day something else hits me, a new problem," Wright said. "Instead of trying to run from it, I'm dealing with it, but it's bigger than me, and I let the mayor know that. I think I need help doing this."
The city has now turned to an independent agency to evaluate department practices and recommend improvements.
"We're going to look at the entire department. We are constrained in terms of overtime, because the way you deal with overtime is you have an adequate number of people in the force, adequate number of people in the force, adequate number of firefighters, and it takes time to build up," explained New Haven Mayor Toni Harp.
The fire department is currently training a class of recruits and expects another class in January, then perhaps a third in May. Fire union president Lt. Jim Kottage said the new recruits will help bolster staffing but is concerned the review comes too late.
"This should have been done years ago. I know this is an inherited problem for this administration, but what are we paying this third party do an investigation for the fire department? There are a lot of questions that need to be answered," Kottage said.
The chief, on the other hand, said he's optimistic the review will help the department move foward.
"There are some things we're going to like, and there are some things we're not going to like, but we're going to deal with it," Wright said.
