Fire Department rift grows over report

February 22, 2008 03:47 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Boston Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser today blasted the findings of a report about the deaths of two firefighters, saying that he would reopen the inquiry and hire medical experts to scrutinize autopsy results and toxicology tests.

The report by the panel is incomplete, Fraser said, and he wants to definitively determine whether drug and alcohol impairment played a role in the deaths of Warren J. Payne or Paul J. Cahill. The panel members said in the report that they did not have access to the autopsies. News reports on the autopsies said they showed that Cahill was legally drunk and that Payne had traces of cocaine in his system.

In a day that saw three dueling press conferences, the fire department union shot back. “The commissioner just doesn’t want to accept any responsibility,” said union president Ed Kelly. “He wants to shift the responsibility to two firefighters who lost their lives. We think that’s a disgrace.”

The panel was composed entirely of union members, some of whom are the highest ranking officials in the department. Division Chief Stephen K. Dunbar said today that on Oct. 5, 2007, he wrote to Boston police Lieutenant Detective Arthur Torigian requesting the autopsy and toxicology reports. Dunbar said he received no response.

Even without the autopsies, Dunbar said the panel was able to determine from interviews with those on scene that Payne and Cahill were not impaired. “The facts show they performed their duties as they were assigned to them,” Dunbar said.

The panel would consider reopening the inquiry if the autopsy reports are made available, Dunbar said. All things considered, the two men had little chance in the restaurant because of the intensity of the fire, he said.

Payne was essentially incinerated by a 2,000-degree fireball, and Cahill was suffocated by a blast of carbon dioxide. Cahill had followed department policy and taken off his respirator when he ran out of oxygen, Dunbar said.

Fraser said that city attorneys are working to obtain the autopsy reports and toxicology tests.