Middletown RI Firefighters Union Questions Chief

MIDDLETOWN, RI—Two days after raising concern at a Town Council meeting the Rhode Island State Association of Fire Fighters is keeping the heat on town officials over alleged understaffing of the Fire Department and questioning the effectiveness of the fire chief.

"It was a surreal and unnerving experience to see the Council's reaction toward the community who came out to get answers," the statement, attributed to Joseph A. Andriole, president of the Rhode Island State Association of Fire Fighters, said in the statement. "[The Council] had the Town Manager make an embellished bizarre presentation as to why the Middletown Fire Department couldn't initially respond to that horrific fire. He attempted to allege that the Department's only Engine and Rescue were at a non-emergency call, this allegation was not factual and blatantly untrue."

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On New Year's Eve, the Middletown Fire Department chief and training captain were the first on scene in command cars to a structure fire on Woolsey Road, but a Newport Fire Department engine vehicle was the first fire-battling apparatus on scene after the Middletown command cars, and that engine initiated the fire knockdown, Middletown Fire Chief Peter Faerber said previously in Jan. 1 email to The Daily News. Faerber had said in the email that Middletown's fire engine and rescue wagon were out on a previous medical call.

Town Administrator Shawn Brown said in a Jan. 2 email to The Daily News that "[t]here were two calls for service within the span of seven minutes [and the] first call was for emergency medical services that required an advanced life-saving response. For this, Middletown dispatched a rescue wagon and pumper to this call in accordance with Department's regulations," Brown said in the email.

"The second call was for the structural fire on Woolsey Road. A structural fire in any of Middletown's neighboring communities would have triggered a similar call for mutual aid at some level. In this instance, the call for mutual aid generated a response from the neighboring communities and resulted in upwards of 25 firefighters, including firefighters from Middletown, responding to the scene or providing coverage at the Middletown Fire Station."

Brown said at Monday's Town Council meeting that the response to the Woolsey Road fire was being investigated.

"Our fire chief and captain were the first on the scene," Brown said at the meeting. "Our pumper and a transport vehicle were one minute from the fire scene, but they were not contacted by dispatch."

The first dispatch call went to the Newport Fire Department, Brown said at the meeting. At the time, the Middletown fire truck, rescue wagon and a police officer were on their way to Newport Hospital as part of a medical call that was not an emergency, Brown said.

"These are matters that need to be investigated," he said at Monday's meeting.

"The truth is that the complete staff of the Fire Department was handling ONE emergency incident," the Rhode Island State Association of Fire Fighters press release says. "It appeared that town leaders were uncomfortable with the fact that the current staffing allotment can only handle ONE serious medical call at any given time."

"The Fire Chief remained silent while the Town Manager and the Town Council threw the entire Fire Department under the bus...The Fire Chief should pause and self-reflect upon his abilities to continue at the helm of his Department, it appears he is inept to lead this Department forward," the press release says.

"We want more staffing for only two reasons, for our safety and for safety of the PEOPLE in Middletown...The Union remains 100% committed to working with the Town as a partner, not an adversary, and to resolve this matter and provide a level of public safety that the people deserve," according to the press release.

A phone call and email to Middletown Fire Chief Peter Faerber on Wednesday were not immediately returned. A text and email to Town Administrator Shawn Brown on Wednesday were not immediately returned.

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