|
March
21, 2006
Dear Mr. Sclafani,
I am the wife of
a New York Fire Patrolman, and after reading your “Exclusive”
article "Bid to Snuff Fire Patrol" I felt compelled to write my
response. Before I start I would like to say that you should be
ashamed of yourself for writing a biased account of the New York
Fire Patrol. In Journalism, I was taught to check your sources as
well as your facts before you print them, and then check them again.
Mr. Sclafani, you sir, did no such work. Instead, you let your own
personal opinion write this story or perhaps others influenced your
story to their own words. Shame on you for leading your readers to
believe many of these untruths you wrote about and leaving out other
truths that should have been told. There are always two sides to
every story.
1)
You failed to mention, the New York Board of Fire
Underwriters and its voting members manage the Fire Patrol. They are
the ones who manage all issues pertaining to the New York Fire
Patrol. It was their management of the Fire Patrol that was in
question, not the Officers or the Patrolman that were in question as
you made it seem. These men have no say about the 1%-2% surcharge
and where it goes. That is the job of the Board of Fire Underwriters
and its voting members. You mention “modern times” and yes sir, I
must agree with you on this. You would think that the Board of Fire
Underwriters and their voting members would get in step and
computerize the 3 Firehouses as well as updating the phone systems.
Being behind the times was not a choice these men made but the Board
of Fire Underwriters and their voting members decided on or should I
say, lack there of deciding.
2)
Patrol members have and use NFPA approved protective gear
when responding to a fire or water issue. Do you actually think that
a FDNY Battalion Chief would allow the Patrolmen to go into a
burning building without the proper protective gear? Give the FDNY
Chiefs a little more credit than that sir. Their uniforms are
completely in regulation. As for adequate tools…my husband and
several other Patrolmen have purchased tools themselves (not
uncommon) to help them better perform their job functions when in a
fire or water situation. In my opinion I feel this should have been
the responsibility of the Board of Fire Underwriters as well as the
voting members to adequately equip them with these tools rather than
let these men go without or get the tools themselves. As for
“earning more money than rookie firefighters” yes, some officers and
patrolmen do earn more money than rookie fireman but you have left
out that these men most times are officers or patrolmen who have
been with the NY Fire Patrol for many, many years. Are you saying
that they do not deserve to get paid decently for going into burning
buildings and risking their lives by doing so as FDNY does? You
failed to mention that unlike rookie firefighters, the Fire
Patrolmen do not get overtime or paid holidays unless they actually
work that holiday and they only get paid for the hours they worked
of that holiday. So yes, some Patrolmen might make more money than a
rookie fireman but how about the Patrolman who does not make as much
money as the rookie fireman? Does he do any more or less? I don’t
think so. These men give 110% of themselves every day they work. Are
you saying that an Officer in the Fire Patrol should make less than
a rookie fireman? Or how about a Patrolman who has worked years in
the Fire Patrol they should make less than a rookie fireman? Sir,
these Patrolman might make more money than a rookie fireman they
have earned that salary just as the rookie will earn his or hers!
3)
The findings that were laid out in the report obtained by
the Daily News were not at the request of the Board of Fire
Underwriters but by the voting members. You also decided to pick and
choose what you wanted the public to know in twisted terms.
4) Ms.
Ellen Melchionni should get into the real world. How about if Ms.
Melchionni asked all the Brokers who pay the New York Fire Insurance
surcharge to send back an assessment of all that the Fire Patrol has
saved. Brokers most times never report
back to the Patrol with the dollar amount saved after an operation,
as
they’re asked to. At the most
recent save that was mentioned in
your article, 300 tarps were laid, but not one Broker from that SoHo
fire has brought forth the dollar amounts saved to the Fire Patrol
Chief. Believe me when I say that the numbers you sighted in your
article would drastically increase if these numbers were brought to
the Patrol for record. Ms. Melchionni is speaking out her derrière
when she said “They just frankly don’t find any value in the
organization.” The voting members would find value in the Fire
Patrol if only those who crunched the numbers of loss and savings
stepped out from behind their desk every once in a while. Maybe then
the Fire Patrol numbers would stand for what it is and that I am
sure is well over “10 Million in savings”. Maybe the Brokers phones
are broken and they are unable to contact the Fire Patrol to say
“Thanks for the great job your men do you saved us millions” But
that phone call has never been forthcoming and that leaves the Fire
Patrol to under estimate the value of savings to each call they
worked at. How fair is that? Why not ask Ms. Melchionni? Maybe she
should start requiring her brokers to do the right thing and have
them report dollar amount saved in each Fire Patrol response to
their individual policyholders. Of course, this is not the case and
again the Patrol has to low ball the numbers and not get the credit
they should from a broker for saving 1 Million dollars when they
have to estimate the value of savings at a low ball number of
say $100,000 without a broker assessment.
The Fire Patrol only receives credit for saving property that they
actually throw a tarp over. They receive no credit for keeping the
water for example, from traveling down five additional floors. In
the formula for savings, it’s as if those floors don’t exist. They
also receive no credit for a business getting back to work 1 day
after a fire or water emergency instead of 1 week or 1 month, or
never. They also receive no credit for the work in uninsured
businesses or in city, state, and federal buildings. For example,
in December, there was a large fire at
1 Centre Street, on
the 20th floor. The Fire patrol used 200 covers to save
the entire real estate records of Manhattan, but received no credit
for any savings because, as a city building it was uninsured.
5)
Keith Roma died saving people from the World Trade Center.
He was not “trying” as you stated, he was doing. Do not
insult his memory nor the memory of the
31 other Patrolman who died in the line of duty over the
history of the Fire Patrol. There is no amount of money you can put
on a life. And though the Fire Patrolmen who did survive and respond
to the World Trade Center attack did not lay their life down to
protect and save others, they did protect and save others and risked
their lives to do so. These men are heroes and should be treated
with the respect they rightfully deserve. That day, there was no
Officer or Patrolmen there were only heroes. Just as FDNY, NYPD and
NYPAPD are hero’s. No more, no
less.
In conclusion I
would just like to say for the record that these men are about to
lose their jobs: The Chief, the
Officers and the Patrolman. New York and its 5 boroughs are about to
lose a great service. The Insurance Companies who are already
financially strapped will be even harder hit with all the claims
that could be made, if the Fire Patrol is unable to throw covers and
protect property. Do you really think that the FDNY is going to
throw 300 tarps to protect property when there is a fire to be put
out? I don’t think so. Their priority is to rescue people and put
the fire out. Maybe one or two covers will be laid, but that is it.
You think 1% or 2% surcharge was a major amount to help fund the
Fire Patrol? Just wait until the claims of fire and water damage
start showing up in commercial buildings. Then what folks? The New
York Fire Patrol who served this great city faithfully for almost
170 years will be gone. Have the brokers crunch the numbers they do
not lie! The New York Fire Patrol is a vital service and one that
should not be dissolved.
Mr. Sclafani why
not do the job of journalism justice and check your facts. Take the
time to do a story justice. Ask these proud men their side of the
story. After all 2 Officers and 2 Patrolmen took a hand in writing
the internal assessment under the pretense that it was going to help
the job to better improve. Why not get out from behind your desk
sir, and maybe take a run and see what these men actually do before
insulting them and their work. These men are proud to be called
Patrolmen and I am glad to know them and be a wife of a patrolman.
It is a great organization and I believe in their fight to “Save the
Fire Patrol”.
I thank you for
your time and hope that you will consider writing a retraction or at
least put the Fire Patrolmen’s side of the story in one of your
columns. Give your readers the chance to make their own minds up
about this great organization called the New York Fire Patrol and
its doings, rather then showing
them as your article has shown them in a bad light. Be fair. Stand
up and be a true Journalist: Print the Truth.
Sincerely,
Jennifer A.
Cummings
Cc: Fire Patrol
Online
Chief Richard
Heffernan
Chairman and
Publisher New York Daily News Mr. Mortimer Zuckerman
|
