Fire officials to review policy on license checks

Boston fire officials said yesterday that they plan to investigate department procedures for ensuring that the city's 1,500 firefighters have valid driver's licenses before they get behind the wheel of a firetruck to respond to emergencies.

The review was prompted by a Globe report yesterday that Paul J. Cahill, one of two firefighters who died in a West Roxbury restaurant fire in August, was charged with drunken driving in 2005 and had his license suspended for seven months without the department's knowledge.

The department does not check firefighters' driving records, meaning that supervisors have no way of knowing whether a firefighter's license has been suspended unless the firefighter reports the suspension.

"It is something we're going to look at now," department spokesman Steve MacDonald said.

Cahill's license was suspended from July 15, 2005, to March 1, 2006, records show. He was granted a "hardship license" that allowed him to drive for work purposes only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. But during the suspension, Cahill continued to work two night shifts a week, from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., MacDonald said.

Department officials said they were not able to determine yesterday whether Cahill was allowed to drive Engine 30's Cyclone II custom pump truck during those shifts. They said he did not drive the truck on Aug. 29, the night that he and Firefighter Warren J. Payne died at the Tai Ho Mandarin and Cantonese Restaurant in West Roxbury.

The Globe, quoting two government officials who had been briefed on autopsy reports, reported this week that Cahill had a blood-alcohol content of 0.27 percent when he died, more than three times the legal limit to drive, and that Payne had traces of cocaine in his system. The Fire Department also said this week that 159 firefighters, about 10 percent of the current force, were ordered into substance abuse treatment in the past three years.

Cahill's younger brother said yesterday that he did not believe Cahill was drunk when he died, adding that his brother took his responsibilities as a firefighter too seriously.

"I have never known that my brother would drink on the job," James M. Cahill of Falmouth said. "Never."

He expressed skepticism about the autopsy results and pointed out that the state medical examiner's office, which performed the autopsies, was accused of mismanagement this summer, particularly after misplacing a Cape Cod man's remains in May. Dr. Mark Flomenbaum, who ran the office, was later fired.

"In my mind, I don't believe it," James Cahill said. "I have no reason to believe that those findings are correct."

He also said he was unaware that his brother's driver's license was suspended, calling the matter irrelevant. "That has nothing to do with that night," James Cahill said, referring to Aug. 29, when his brother died.

But the suspension indicated a loophole in department procedures that potentially allows firefighters to rack up violations and suspensions, even drunken driving convictions, and continue driving heavy fire trucks on city streets.

Under current policy, supervisors are supposed to conduct monthly license checks, in which they ask firefighters to pull out their licenses and display them. But in Massachusetts, drivers with suspended licenses are not required to relinquish their license card, meaning the department's checks are virtually meaningless. The department does not access state driving records, which list license suspensions and violations.

"It's pretty much the honor system," MacDonald said.

In Cahill's case, union officials said he didn't have to report his license was suspended because he had the hardship license that allowed him to drive for work purposes during the day.

"He had a valid license," said Edward Kelly, president of firefighters Local 718.

At City Hall yesterday, Mayor Thomas M. Menino began assembling an outside commission to review Fire Department substance-abuse policies.

The mayor met with members of his administration to determine the scope of the review and contacted at least one outside specialist he would like to sit on the commission.

The mayor's spokeswoman said Menino hoped to finalize the arrangement by next week.

"We're hoping to announce something on Tuesday," said the spokeswoman, Dorothy Joyce.

The review will explore whether the department needs tougher drug-testing policies. Current policies do not allow random, mandatory testing.

Kelly said the union is open to the adoption of tougher drug testing of its members, but he said the issue hasn't come up in the current round of contract negotiations.

Federal investigators said yesterday that they plan to examine the autopsy findings as part of their probe into the causes of the deadly fire.

Fred Blosser, a spokesman for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, said investigators who visited the fire scene last month will examine the toxicology results to determine whether alcohol or drugs contributed to the deaths of Cahill and Payne.

"Certainly, any details, any factors, that may have contributed to or played a part in the deaths of the firefighters would be something we would incorporate into the investigation," Blosser said.

Investigators from the institute's Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program inspected the restaurant rubble from Sept. 10 through Sept. 12 as part of an initial review.

The federal investigation is expected to take six to nine months and lead to a public report that identifies the causes of the deaths and to make recommendations.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.