Aging gear adds to risk, firefighters say

Firefighting equipment in Newton has long been an accident waiting to happen. Then it did. Now firefighters are waiting for the next one.

The aging equipment includes air tanks, firetrucks, and a rescue boat.

"I'm very surprised that they haven't taken more time and put more effort into making the Newton Fire Department the best they could," said Fran Capello, the firefighters union president. "You can have the greatest firefighters in the world, but without the proper equipment we can't do our job."

The city is about to replace some of it, but budget squeezes have left gaping holes for years. Many on the force say the problem has contributed to low morale.

"We're just being treated unfairly," said Alex Gimenez, a firefighter who works out of Station 3 in Newton Centre.

"I love the job," said John Bruce Tarasuik, a firefighter who was injured recently and is now out on leave. "I just wish we had better equipment."

Fire Chief Joseph LaCroix agrees the department gets short shrift, and places some of the blame on the state and federal governments.

Since 9/11, public safety officials in many communities have counted on funds from the Department of Homeland Security to help pay for equipment. Newton received a $1 million federal grant in 2002. Of that, $27,000 went directly to the Fire Department, while $430,000 went toward communications equipment controlled by the police but available to firefighters, according to city spokesman Jeremy Solomon.

"Everything is law enforcement and investigation," LaCroix said, even though when an emergency strikes, firefighters are "the first ones there. Give us the tools."

The chief had hoped federal funds would pay for self-contained breathing apparatus -- the air tanks, harnesses, and face masks that firefighters wear into a blaze.

The department's apparatus, which has a life expectancy of about 15 years, dates to 1993. Capello said he asked for replacements in 2005, when some of the equipment started to fail.

Last year, LaCroix joined the list of departments applying for homeland security grants, hoping to replace the equipment. While Waltham received a grant, Newton did not. LaCroix said he was told the money had run out.

Aldermen tomorrow are expected to vote on a request for $318,840 for 60 replacement units.

LaCroix said he makes every effort to ensure the safety of his force.

"I do not have any equipment that is not code compliant," he said. "I wouldn't allow that."

But firefighters say the aging fleet of engines and ladder trucks does not reflect that concern. Despite the city's budget woes in the past few years, they say, more attention should have been paid to their needs.

"Budgets get cut so deeply, there's nothing left," Gimenez said. "It puts the chief in a position where they're cutting corners and they're trying to make the city happy. It doesn't work."

Of the city's fleet of nine firetrucks, one engine and one ladder truck are 22 years old, and another engine is 20 years old. LaCroix said he has refurbished some of them. He said the price of a new one is so high that he can't replace them all at once.

Last month, Tarasuik, who works out of Station 7 in Newton Upper Falls, was manning the back end of Ladder 4 when the truck hit a pothole. Tarasuik was tossed into the air and crashed down on the metal edge of the seat, injuring his lower back.

Tarasuik, 41, said Ladder 4's faulty shock absorbers are well known by firefighters.

"You know when you hit a bump, you're going to go for a ride," he said last week. "There's nothing you can do about it."

After the injury to Tarasuik, LaCroix put Ladder 4 out of service, and is borrowing a replacement from Natick.

"It's bad enough to risk yourself at a fire," said Gimenez. "You really shouldn't be getting hurt on the piece of apparatus getting you there."

Tarasuik's was the second injury in two days, following another two since January on the same truck. In one case, a firefighter was out a month with a neck injury. All three of the other firefighters are back at work.

The city recently received a new $850,000 ladder truck that had been requested by LaCroix in December 2005. He said it took more than a year for aldermen to approve the purchase, companies to bid on it, the city's lawyers to prepare the paperwork, and the custom-built truck to be finished. "It's a long, drawn-out process," LaCroix said.

In citing equipment problems, firefighters also point to an incident last summer.

Newton responded with the Waltham Fire Department to a call for a water rescue at the Auburndale Cove on the Charles River in Newton. At the scene was an overturned canoe, complete with fishing poles and bobbers, a cooler of beer, and a hat floating nearby -- evidence of a possible drowning. The firefighters arrived around sunset, and the light was fading.

Waltham arrived with a new inflatable Zodiac, which requires only two rescue workers to hoist it into the water, with a large searchlight attached.

It took six Newton firefighters to lug their 1960s-era aluminum skiff into the river. The craft tips easily in the water. They had hand-held flashlights.

"For a water rescue, they're not really good," Gimenez said. "You need something that can penetrate the water three or four feet, so you can see a body."

It turned out the canoe had been abandoned, and no one was found in the water.

But Gimenez said the Newton firefighters were embarrassed because they viewed their equipment as "not very professional."

LaCroix said water accidents happen only three or four times a year. A new boat is not a priority, he said. Besides, the skiff was a gift to the department, he said.

Connie Paige can be reached at cpaige@globe.com.