Thursday, 4:30 PM
Panel named to investigate substance abuse in Boston Fire Department
(Handout/Globe file photo)
James M. Shannon (left), president of the National Fire Protection Association, and Craig P. Coy, former chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority, along with Dr. Sheila Chapman (not pictured), will review policies and procedures at the Boston Fire Department.
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff
Mayor Thomas M. Menino is tapping a national fire-code specialist, a doctor who specializes in substance-abuse treatment, and the former head of the Massachusetts Port Authority to review Boston Fire Department policies and procedures after revelations last week that two fallen firefighters may have been impaired when they died in a West Roxbury fire.
James M. Shannon, president of the National Fire Protection Association; Dr. Sheila Chapman, a practitioner of addiction and internal medicine at Boston Medical Center; and Craig P. Coy, former chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority, were scheduled to meet with the mayor today and discuss the scope of their investigation, according to two city officials briefed on the plan.
Menino announced Thursday that he would commission an outside review of the fire department. The Globe reported last week that two government officials briefed on autopsy results said firefighter Paul J. Cahill was legally drunk and firefighter Warren J. Payne had traces of cocaine in his system when the two died fighting a fire Aug. 29 at a Chinese restaurant on Centre Street. Fire officials also said last week that 159 firefighters -- - more than 10 percent of the current force -- have been ordered into substance-abuse treatment in the past three years.
Shannon, Chapman, and Coy will be charged with reviewing the fire department's drug- and alcohol-testing policy, which currently doesn't allow for random, mandatory testing. They will also examine other policies and procedures, said the city officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not have permission to speak publicly about the panel.
Shannon has been president and chief executive officer of the NFPA since 2002 and has spearheaded several key fire-safety initiatives, including convening an emergency committee after The Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island that led to amendments in recommended building and safety codes in places of assembly, according to the organization's website. The NFPA issues national guidelines for fire codes that are adopted by many states, including Massachusetts.
Along with her practice at BMC, Chapman is an assistant professor of medicine for Boston University School of Medicine. Chapman is listed as a co-investigator and faculty member for a substance-abuse treatment project and other programs focused on alcohol-abuse screening and intervention, according to the Boston Medical Center website.
Coy took over the helm of Massport in 2002 when complaints of lax security at Logan International Airport forced his predecessor to resign shortly after two hijacked jets that took off from the airport crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York. Before Massport, Coy spent 20 years in the US Coast Guard as an officer and helicopter pilot, according to a Harvard Business School Alumni Bulletin.
Menino is expected to announce the review-panel appointments after the meeting at City Hall this afternoon, the city officials said.
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com
