This April, it was determined that no criminal charges will be filed against the workers who started the fire that claimed the lives of Boston Fire Lieutenant Edward Walsh and Firefighter Michael Kennedy after the workers failed to obtain the proper permitting to conduct welding. However, the workers and the company they worked for will, without a doubt, be facing other forms of litigation along with tens of thousands dollars in OSHA fines. But nothing criminal. Huh?
First, this is not an accusation towards any Boston official involved in this investigation. There is no doubt those officials performed their jobs with due regard and in the highest, most professional manner, and correctly determined within the boundaries of the law that the filing of criminal charges was not warranted. According to Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley, to file such charges would require proof that the actions of the workers were “with conscious disregard of a known risk of death or serious injury,” and he further stated that while admitting their actions were “careless and even irresponsible,” they did not meet the burden required for the criminal charges.
Let’s stop right there. That is the problem.
This tragedy is a snapshot of the United States fire problem at its roots, and why the fire service struggles for funding and support, and it is a reflection of the public’s understanding and appreciation of our job and sacrifices. These misunderstandings are not intentional, nor are they with any malice or disrespect, and it’s all perfectly in line with how history has viewed the fire service. But let’s put this in better perspective.
A young and barely mature 16-year-old individual studies a simple pamphlet, takes a test, and is provided a driver’s license. This same 16-year-old individual then speeds past a 35mph road sign at 75mph, straight through a stop sign and plows into another vehicle killing the other driver. That 16-year-old now faces a slew of charges up to and including manslaughter. How could this young individual, a mere child in the eyes of many, be held so accountable? Because the law stated they successfully took a test and thus understood the law, and they then knowingly broke the law by going 40mph over the speed limit and their actions subsequently caused a death. Is this not “conscious disregard of a known risk of death or serious injury?”
Yet here we are in Boston and adult, certified professionals knowingly fail to obtain the required permit to perform hazardous work, and that failure led to the horrific death of two individuals, and yet no criminal charges can be filed? Why the disparity? How is knowingly and willingly failing to obtain safety permitting which leads to a death of another not be “conscious disregard of a known risk of death or serious injury?”
Could it be because that is our society’s perspective? Is it because traffic laws are deemed more serious than fire codes? Could it be that a firefighter dying in the line of duty, while sorrowfully tragic, is an assumed expected occurrence in our job to such a degree that our deaths inside a burning building, regardless of the cause (except arson), is accepted and a willful violation of a code that would have prevented that death is not a criminal act? Have our lives and duties been reduced to such acceptable risks and losses to the point another cannot be held accountable for our harm even when they knowingly disregard codes, laws, and regulations that are proven to protect us?
The fire code is not a book filled with “eurekas,” or blind bolts of lightning from nowhere burning letters into the book. Any code written in that book can be traced in history in some form or fashion to a tragic fire or event in our country; in other words they were written in blood with the cries of “we will never forget!” But we have forgotten, and we continue to do so every time we allow code violations to cause a death and the perpetrator to walk away.
Maybe it’s eerily prophetic that Lieutenant Walsh and Firefighter Kennedy died one day after the 13th anniversary of the fire at the Happy Land Social Club, a club that had been ordered closed due to fire code violations yet remained open due to failure to enforce those codes and that resulted in 87 people losing their lives. Such a list of tragedies could go on and on, and that list would also include another historic Boston LODD on Father’s Day in 1972, when nine of Boston’s Bravest perished in a building collapse as a result of code violations involving load bearing walls.
The fire service has made great strides in enacting laws that protects firefighters; everything from arson fires to assault, there now are laws on the books that protect the lives of firefighters through strict enforcement and aggressive prosecution, and with the ultimate goal of future deterrence. Are they a 100% deterrent? Of course not! But if it deters one then isn’t that worth it? I can speak from direct personal experience that when word gets out that the local fire official is quick to write fines and that the judge is quick to impose maximum sentence, the occurrence of violations drop, and along with this drop in code violations so does the occurrence of fires and exposed risk to firefighters. This is the cycle of death we keep ignoring in our profession.
Yes, fire service, let this Beacon Street fire in Boston that was caused by unpermitted welding in violation of fire regulations leading to the death of two Boston firefighters once again be the “shot heard around the world” that starts a revolution. Just as in our successful lobbying for stronger laws protecting firefighters in others areas of our profession, let us now take up this call to arms and bring the willing violation of fire codes to the same criminal level as that 16-year-old blazing into another vehicle.
Those codes we speak of were written in blood, and now the blood of Lieutenant Walsh and Firefighter Kennedy are in the books, and as we mournfully said at their memorials, let’s us now truly not forget their sacrifice. Let Boston once again be ground zero for a revolution, and let “remember Edzo and Mike,” be our battle cry! We cannot accept a disregard for fire codes end in another stomach wrenching Mayday call from those we call our brothers.
Somewhere right now there is a business owner, a contractor, or architect, who is looking at his or her project and trying to find ways to save money and cuts costs, and with no “incentive” to observe strict adherence to the fire code, that could have tragic results for a company of firefighters sitting unknowingly in their station. How many such projects are occurring in your first-due? Are you willing to sit back and let that happen?
“The longest journey begins with the first step,” and for the safety of our rookies tomorrow, and so that we may leave this fire service better than we found it, we need to get this revolution started.
DANIEL BYRNE, a Firehouse.com contributing editor, is a firefighter/paramedic, with the Burton, S.C., Fire District. A 20-year veteran of the emergency services, he holds both an associate and bachelor’s degree in fire science, is a National Fire Academy Alumni, and a veteran of the Desert Shield/Storm war with the U.S. Marine Corps. Byrne is the recipient of local and state awards for public educations and relations. He is moderator of the Fire Prevention and Life Safety forums on Firehouse.com. You can reach him by e-mail at [email protected].
