Firefighter is arrested on drug charges

Anthony Gaston inspects sites with hazardous materials.

A veteran firefighter who saved residents from a burning building in 2002 was arrested yesterday afternoon, Boston police said, after officers caught him smoking marijuana in his Fire Department vehicle on a Dorchester street.

The arrest was made amid growing acrimony between Boston firefighters and city officials who have been locked in a heated contract dispute over drug and alcohol testing of firefighters.

Anthony Gaston, a fire inspector assigned to the department's Fire Prevention Division, was in uniform when police officers, acting on a tip from a concerned citizen, drove by his car on Dunlap Street about 2:40 p.m. and spotted him smoking what appeared to be marijuana, police said.

As police pulled up behind the car, the officers saw Gaston throw away what he was smoking.

They walked up to Gaston's red Chevrolet Malibu, which was parked in front of a fire hydrant, and immediately noticed the strong smell of marijuana, police said. The officers found two bags of the drug in the front seat and a third in the back, said two public officials who have been briefed on the investigation.

Gaston, who was in the car with two other people, was handcuffed and taken to the Mattapan district police station. As he was being booked, police said they found a small quantity of Percocet. "We do not know all the facts of the case; he deserves his day in court," said Edward Kelly, president of Boston Firefighters Local 718. "However, if the charges are proven true, there is no room for that behavior on the Boston Fire Department."

Gaston, who has been a firefighter since 1982, is responsible for inspecting any site with hazardous materials, such as gas stations.

He uses the car, which has blue license plates that read fire official, to make his inspections.

Steve MacDonald, a spokesman for the Fire Department, said Gaston was supposed to be off duty yesterday and should not have been driving his department car.

MacDonald said he did not know why he was in uniform or whether he was performing inspections.

The department immediately placed Gaston on administrative leave with pay, and he was expected to undergo a drug test last night, MacDonald said.

Gaston could not be reached for comment last night. There was no answer at a phone number listed under his name.

Six years ago, Gaston was a hero.

He was on his way to work on a July morning when he heard 911 calls about a fire at a Dorchester apartment building on his scanner. A child playing with a lighter had ignited a mattress, and the blaze was spreading through the building.

He rushed to the building, ran through the halls, and banged on the doors, yelling for people to follow him downstairs.

Gaston helped lead several residents to safety, according to published reports at that time.

"I just happened to be in the right place at the right time," he told the Globe after the fire. "This is what I'm trained to do."

The firefighters union is embroiled in bitter negotiations with city officials over a contract.

The city has been demanding random testing since autopsy results indicated that two firefighters were under the influence of drugs and alcohol when they died fighting a restaurant fire in West Roxbury Aug. 27.

In return for drug and alcohol testing, the union wants a 21 percent pay hike over four years, according to two public officials involved in the investigations.

A state panel that is trying to resolve the contract dispute was thrown into turmoil Wednesday after union representatives on the panel walked out in protest, saying the committee, which is overseen by a retired judge, was unfairly siding with management.

Dorothy Joyce, spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino, declined to say whether the charges against Gaston would affect contract negotiations.

"It's a police matter at this point," she said. "It's disappointing and unfortunate if these charges are true. There need to be city protocols in place to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again."

Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com. Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.