May 15--All 13 deputy chiefs in the Boston Fire Department have declared they have "no confidence" in Chief Steve Abraira, firing off an angry letter to the mayor saying the fire boss "failed" by balking at taking command at the deadly Boston Marathon bombing scene.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Herald, blasts Abraira -- the department's highest-ranking uniformed officer -- as a "ghost fire chief" who "never announced his arrival on the radio or assumed any command authority" at the April 15 terror attack on Boylston Streeet.
"At a time when the City of Boston needed every first responder to take decisive action, Chief Abraira failed to get involved in operational decision-making or show any leadership," the letter, signed by each deputy chief, reads. "You can unequivocally consider this letter a vote of no confidence in Chief Abraira."
Dot Joyce, spokeswoman for Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Tuesday night said she had not seen the letter nor spoken to the mayor about it.
Abraira, who was handpicked for the $160,000-a-year job, said there was "no reason" for him to step in and assume command.
"Quite honestly, I thought everything was going very well with the deputies at the scene," Abraira said last night. "If you can strengthen command or if things are going badly then yes. But in this environment, it doesn't make sense, because you have senior deputies and they do this every day. That's what I want them to do. I want to let them do what they do every day."
Abraira, the former Dallas fire chief, said he is in "administration" and does not believe he should take command at incidents, except in extreme circumstances. Abraira, the city's first chief hired from outside the department, changed a long-standing policy last year that required the highest-ranking chief to take command at incident scenes. Abraira said he made the change to comply with "national standards."
"If it's necessary for me to assume command of our every day operation at incidents, then something's wrong," he said.
In addition to criticizing his handling of the marathon attack, the letter blasts Abraira for failing to take command at an electrical explosion and blackout in the Back Bay and a six-alarm blaze in East Boston. At the Eastie fire, the letter states that Abraira climbed onto a roof of an adjacent building "so that he could take a photograph of himself with the burning building in the background" for his "scrapbook."
"We feel that if something is not done to address this situation, that eventually there will be a price to pay," the letter states. "We do not want that price to be the life of a citizen of Boston or a member of the Boston Fire Dept."
Of the criticism, Abraira said: "People don't like change. I understand that resistance. But it's really a shame. All I can do is do the best I can for the citizens here and the firefighters. It's unfortunate we don't see eye to eye. But I am the chief of the department."
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