The city of Boston should randomly test firefighters for illegal drugs and alcohol, better train their supervisors, and adopt changes that have been suggested by outside reviewers since 1994 but were never put in place, a special panel recommended yesterday.
The panel convened by Mayor Thomas M. Menino also recommended that the city launch a firefighter wellness program to ensure fitness for duty, increase the number of civilian managers, and diversify firefighter and management ranks.
Menino established the panel after autopsy results indicated two firefighters were impaired when they died fighting a West Roxbury restaurant blaze in August. The results of its review were contained in a 14-page report.
"These recommendations make a lot of sense," Menino said yesterday at City Hall. "They will improve public safety."
Random drug and alcohol testing has been consistently opposed by the Boston firefighters union unless accompanied by more compensation. The president of Local 718, Edward Kelly, said that position has not changed. "We look forward to bargaining with the city, with the mayor, to implement some of these recommendations," he said at the news conference.
Yesterday's set of recommendations is the fourth delivered to Menino from outside reviews since he took office in 1993. The Globe reported last month that the city has failed to implement 50 of 82 recommendations from the earlier reviews.
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.
