Brownsizing in Pennsport and Whitman

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Disasters never discriminate. Awareness of that fact prompted about 150 residents of the Pennsport and Whitman sections of South Philadelphia to show dissent early Friday evening for the initial brown out of Engine 53, 414-16 Snyder Ave. Bellowing chants and vowing further forms of outcry, they assembled to rebuke the City’s latest initiative to dwindle its deficit.

The frustrated citizens began gathering at 5 p.m., one hour before their civil servants had to begin a 14-hour brown out. The service disruption, one of two the engine will have this month, will help the City to save nearly $3.8 million from the General Fund budget, according to Mayor Michael Nutter. While instituting the disturbances may save the City a hefty amount of overtime compensation, the move could cause untold tragedy.

“How many buckets do we need to put out a fire? How many bottles of water?” Sharon Payton asked everyone as she strolled through the crowd. The resident of the 500 block of Winton Street toted a bucket and multiple bottles of water to prove the futility of trying to retard a blaze without fire personnel.

“How many people have to die?” she added before a light rain made a 10-minute visit.

“If the City takes away our fire company, rain is what it’s going to take to keep our homes from burning,” Leroy Montrose of the 500 block of South Cantrell Street said.

Having had no say in the City’s decision, members of Engine 53 and Ladder 27, which occupies the same location, interacted with the public, receiving full support for their efforts. Their endeavors and those of their comrades have become compromised since brown outs took effect Aug. 2.

Of South Philadelphia’s five engines, three are experiencing halts. Beginning Aug. 3 and repeating every fifth day, Engine 24, 1200 S. 20th St., has experienced day-tour closures from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Brown outs for Engine 3, 200-10 Washington Ave., commenced on Aug. 5 and follow the same schedule as Engine 24. By the end of the month, each will have had six recesses.

The Philadelphia Fire Department — the fifth largest in the United States — constitutes 56 companies, with 23 of them subject to brown outs. During an engine’s day- or night-shift closing, personnel may find themselves traveling considerable distances to tend to a fire instead of addressing a potential inferno nearby.

The night-tour brown out for Engine 53 kept it closed from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Friday into Saturday and will do the same Aug. 25. According to Bill Gault, president of the Philadelphia Fire Fighters’ Union Local 22, Engine 10, 1357 S. 12th St., and Engine 49, 2600 S. 13th St., will handle Engine 53’s calls during its gridlocks.

The company concluded a call just before the rally, then transported its radios to the battalion chief’s station, 711 S. Broad St. — the location of Ladder 5. The arrival of the truck caused crowd members to chant “We need our fire station” and “Nutter’s got to go,” the latter the work of Joseph Fenuto of the 2400 block of South Sixth Street. Fenuto distributed fliers that carried messages similar to Gault’s podium remarks.

“No data, study, research or expert opinions went into this decision,” Gault, who spent 2006-’09 with Engine 53, said.

The decision’s purposes, according to information on the Fire Department’s website, are to redistribute personnel and to pay everyone with “straight time,” or normal shift pay. The brown-out schedule calls for three day-shift brown outs and three more night-shifts. Though it will not mean that any two South Philadelphia divisions will cease to operate on the same day, the schedule frightens those who attended, especially Gault.

“Most of us have no desire for overtime. We want to be home with our families,” he said, drawing applause from a crowd with many children bearing signs. “We haven’t had a new class of firefighters in two-and-a-half years. Because of retirements and injuries, we’re short about 300 people. You have to understand that this isn’t a job; it’s a calling. We do this out of love.”

Gault also discussed the City’s promise that brown outs would not jeopardize any lives. On the first day of the schedule change, Nutter described concerns of more deaths and longer response times as “unnecessary hysteria.”

“Tell that to the family that lost their child,” Gault shouted, referring to an Aug. 7 West Philadelphia fire that claimed a 12-year-old autistic boy. The first-in company for the blaze, Engine 57, was on a brown out that night.

According to the Philadelphia Fire Department’s website, the City used a number of factors to decide which companies’ hours to slash. Some included the capability of surrounding firehouses to respond to blazes in a company’s normal coverage zone, response times and workload based on number of calls or “runs” for fire and emergency medical service incidents.

Gault considers the whole issue a betrayal of trust. He encouraged citizens to fulfill their civic duties by making calls and voting.

“You have the power in the ballot box,” he said before fraternizing with the throng, which included a man who yelled “Billy Gault for mayor!”

“Billy Gault doesn’t want to be mayor,” he responded. “Billy Gault’s just a fireman.”

For those present, especially Cliff Baron, being “just a fireman” means being a hero.

“I grew up thinking firefighters are heroes,” the resident of the 200 block of Mifflin Street said. “This brown-out business makes them look like zeroes.”

Engine 53 has not received word on its September closures, but Mike Kane of Local 22 expects an announcement by next week.

“It’s funny, though, that the first company that would go to Nutter’s house is not on brown out,” Kane said.

If the company has a 12-day difference between its second and third brown-outs as it has between its first and second, residents can expect no service Sept. 6, Labor Day. That possibility is enough to convince Payton to stack up on bottled water, no matter how pointless dumping it on flames might sound.

“Buy a case just in case,” she said.

Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.

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