Senior members of the Providence Fire Department have issued a report recommending the city move back to a four-platoon system and increase staffing, but Public Safety Commission Steven Pare is accusing the fire union of playing politics.
The report, prepared by Battalion Chief Kenneth Rainone, acting Battalion Chief Stephen Capricotta and acting Battalion Chief Kevin Jutras, focuses on two large fires – one on Eaton Street and the other on Laurel Hill Avenue – on March 31 that left 26 firefighters injured, some with cyanide poisoning.
The three veteran firefighters found the Eaton Street fire “provides lessons on the need to ensure adequate tracking, rotation, rest, and rehabilitation of fatigued firefighters” and suggested the city needs to continue to train workers on the dangers of cyanide poisoning. The recommendations outlined in the report focus largely on staffing, suggesting the depleted fire department needs to hire more members of the command staff as well as increase the total number of firefighters in the city.