Coventry Firefighter: "The Fire House is Getting Dim"

Jonathan Pascua, a firefighter in the Coventry Fire District, is one of a dwindling number of firefighters left in the district and he’s starting to feel like this is the end, too.

He and his colleagues have not seen a paycheck in more than 40 days. The district’s bank accounts were frozen. The state and the town have no immediate solutions. As politicians and the union squabble, there is a sadness hanging in the air in the district’s fire stations as more and more firefighters hang up their boots.

On Friday, just two firefighters were on duty.

Earlier this week, Superior Court Judge Brian P. Stern warned that the residents of the district are apparently in the midst of a public safety crisis.

Here’s what Pascua said in his emotional post on Facebook:

The fire house is getting dim. The laughter and the voices that echoed thru the building are gone. The pictures are slowly coming off the walls that we put up over the years to make this place our home and are being replaced with square impressions of dust. Lockers are getting emptied almost on a daily basis and the residue of the stickers and names is whats left on them. It’s a hard reality to accept, to know that i wont hear these voices around here again. You walk around and see memo’s posted that don’t apply anymore… you see shift assignments on the board with names of people that you’ll never ride a fire truck with again…Now, i’m here with only 1 other firefighter tonight when we used to have 4 of us…walk down the hallway and two of the bunk rooms are dark.. there are no wages for the guys that remain and only hostility towards us for reasons we don’t even understand ourselves, all while we go through the physical grieving process of loosing brothers on a daily basis. It’s been a massive incomprehensible loss and tragedy to the citizens of this district and town to lose the men they have lost so far. There isn’t one of us that was here because it was a pay check, we all loved what we do and wanted to be here. I used to be very proud of my job, today.. i’m ashamed to tell people i’m a firefighter and worried they will ask me where.... I catch myself changing subjects to flying and real estate, rapidly. Best of luck to the men who have left and it was an honor working with you.

Photo courtesy: Scott Brown via Facebook