Charleston Firefighter's Association IAFF Local 61

“The Charleston 9” WE WILL NEVER FORGET 6/18/07

August 24, 2007

Re: Press Release

Our recommendations and suggestions in the booklet entitled City of Charleston Fire Department “Changes for a Brighter Future” was given to Mayor Riley, Chief Thomas and all of City Council in 2002. A meeting was held in Chief Thomas office where we discussed our issues and explained to him how important it is to firefighter safety to implement NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency) standards within the CFD. We were ignored.

It is sad that it has taken nine firefighter deaths to get changes in the CFD and the attention of the Mayor to finally think about firefighter safety. What could have been changed over time to implement these NFPA standards, with little inpact to the city and the citizens, will now cost the city millions of dollars to correct this.

No one knows if the changes would have saved our nine firefighters the night of 6/18/07. However, it is clear that our firefighters would have had a much better chance to return to their fire stations and families if the chief would have changed his attitude toward change and implement NFPA standards.

I want the citizens of Charleston to know that they have no worries about fire protection from their firefighters. Our firefighter are among the best in the nation. The problems we are now dealing with now, lay clearly on the shoulders of the fire chief and the mayor. They are the ones that have embarrassed our fire department and the City of Charleston. City managers are the ones that let us all down.

Roger L. Yow

President

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