Haverhill's firefighters and mayor made nice yesterday, as the jakes apologized for calling the mayor a murderer, pushing their union agenda after an elderly woman's horrific death in a house fire. There were handshakes all around.
But 84-year-old Phyllis Lamot's family wasn't buying it.
"They used her as a bargaining chip and they're out there running their mouth and they need to shut up," said Lamot's anguished niece, Jeri-an Batal of Methuen. "We've had it now. They should be ashamed of themselves and they should step down."
Batal said she was appalled to learn that the firefighters union had planned to hold a press conference yesterday outside her aunt's charred home.
"That is disgusting," Batal said, adding she doesn't hold the mayor responsible for her aunt's death.
Union firefighters had publicly blasted Mayor James Fiorentini shortly after Wednesday's deadly fire -- blaming him for the death of Lamot, a great-grandmother who had a "heart of gold." One of the jakes, Todd Guertin, took it further, telling reporters the mayor should be "charged with murder" for cutting the rescue truck's manpower to one. In the press conference that was abruptly moved from the burned-out house to City Hall yesterday, Guertin apologized to the mayor.
Lamot's sister, Dorothy Kalil, said the union has no respect for her family. "They're exploiting my sister's death for their own personal gain, for their own perverted sense of justice to get back at the mayor," Kalil said. "This is really appalling, what they've done. It's unconscionable."
Unconscionable, yes. But the union got what it wanted. At yesterday's press conference, the mayor said the city and union struck a deal to "fully staff" the department's rescue truck until June 30 -- even though the mayor said the "rescue truck situation" didn't contribute to Lamot's death and "no additional manpower" would have prevented it. Ed Kelly of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts, however, insists Haverhill residents are "better protected tonight than they were last night." Kelly said he'd like to sit down with the family and let them know they'd do "anything in our power to turn the clock back and somehow get to her in time."
Batal said she's not interested. "I don't think it would be sincere," she said.
Batal said firefighters had "ample time" to get her out. Fire officials reported the fire response was complicated by a fallen electrical wire that damaged a hose, while the state fire marshal said medical oxygen in the house maybe intensified the fire.
"They were just waiting for something to happen and, unfortunately, my aunt had to suffer the consequences," Batal said. "You go from being shocked to getting angry. She should not have died."
Copyright 2012 - Boston Herald
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
