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Federal report criticizes Boston Fire Department in fatal 2007 fire

E-mail|Link|Comments () November 11, 2009 05:59 PM

Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe

The aftermath of the fire in which Firefighters Paul J. Cahill and Warren J. Payne lost their lives.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A federal agency has sharply criticized the Boston Fire Department in a report on the 2007 restaurant fire in West Roxbury in which two firefighters died, identifying what it said were a number of factors contributing to the two men's deaths.

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health said, among other things, that the department should improve its procedures for protecting firefighters' health and safety and its system for handling incidents.

Firefighters Paul J. Cahill and Warren J. Payne died Aug. 29, 2007, in a fire fueled by built-up grease in the kitchen exhaust system at the Tai Ho Mandarin and Cantonese Restaurant on Centre Street.

Fire department spokesman Steve MacDonald said the fire commissioner would study the report with his command staff. "There are a lot of recommendations in there and they go into a lot of detail," he said.

Among the findings in the NIOSH report:

-- The department's incident management system was "ineffective."

-- Firefighters had "insufficient tactics and training."

-- There was "ineffective" communication during the incident.

-- Firefighters were wearing "inadequate" equipment.

MacDonald noted that a fire department board of inquiry issued its own report, with a lengthy list of recommendations after studying the incident. He said the department was already moving to address "quite a few, if not all" of the recommendations in that board's report.

Boston Fire Fighters Local 718 President Ed Kelly said the report clearly showed that "the training and oversight provided by management of the Boston Fire Department is in need of major reform."

"The report states that the only way to minimize the potential for another tragedy of this magnitude is for major changes to be made, including the implementation of improved command procedures and better training and equipment for fire fighters," Kelly said in a statement.

Autopsy reports show that when they died, Payne had traces of cocaine in his blood, and Cahill's blood alcohol level was .27, three times the legal limit to drive in Massachusetts, according to two government officials who described the results to the Globe. In addition, Cahill also had traces of marijuana in his blood, according to another high-ranking official briefed on the reports.

The federal agency said it had repeatedly requested a copy of the autopsy reports through the fire department, district attorney's office, and family representatives, but had been denied.

"Therefore, NIOSH is not able to comment on the alleged condition of the victims," the report said.