NK Firefighters Vote No Confidence in Chief

As tensions between members of the North Kingstown Fire Department and the town continue to escalate, the International Association of Firefighters Local 1651, the fire union, have passed a vote of no confidence in Chief Fenwick Gardiner Jr.

“The vote was the result of a thorough, deliberative and investigative process” that began last December, the union said in a statement, and it passed 48-2 in the recent vote -- the first of its kind in the department’s 97-year-history.

The union listed a series of concerns that led to the vote, mainly about safety concerns. They are as follows:

*Neglecting to acknowledge, accommodate, or respond to requests from the NKFFA Health and Safety Committee and the NKFFA Executive Board to discuss the safety of the members

*Neglecting to address the safety concerns from Deputy Chiefs, Company Officers, and line firefighters regarding the chronic state of disrepair of a large portion of the apparatus fleet

*Ordering that certain fire apparatus remain in service despite an awareness of serious deficiencies related to their safe operation

*Neglecting to initiate or advocate for an evaluation of the current three-platoon structure and its negative effect on alertness, performance, morale, safety, training, operations, and the physical and mental well-being of the firefighters

*Failure to maintain or publicly advocate for an adequate number of personnel to meet the needs of the Fire Department, resulting in many firefighters being ordered to work on a regular, sometimes dangerously prolonged basis

The union met with the chief on July 25 to inform him of the vote and “reinforced their desire to work cooperatively and finally remedy the deficiencies ‘to ensure the highest possible level of safety for the community,’” a release stated.

“The disclosure of our No Confidence vote in Chief Gardiner was initially withheld from the media to avoid even more negative press for our Department. However recent public accusations and comments directed at NK firefighters by Town Manager Michael Embury, who is also the Public Safety Director have forced us to publicly release the vote, as well as the resolution adopted by the membership. Serious safety issues in the North Kingstown Fire Department have been allowed to exist for far too long.” said Raymond Furtado, president of the NKFFA.

The disclosure referred to by Furtado is a recent letter to the editor from Town Manager Michael Embury, who accused firefighters of playing an “attendance game” by not answering phone calls when asked to fill vacancies or provide relief.

That letter was in response to a letter by union members criticizing the chief for accepting a Rotary Club award recognizing firefighting families in June. They said it was a move “by the fire chief to appear to publicly support a workforce that he has, in actuality, all but abandoned.”

Firefighters were upset that they reportedly were not invited to the ceremony and had no idea it was happening, learning about it in the newspaper. They also said the chief made no effort to offer congratulations to anyone.

The overarching rift revolves around the recent move to a 24-hour shift schedule, which firefighters say is hurting morale and putting their lives and the public in danger.

Meanwhile, Embury said in his letter that the 24-hour shift schedule works throughout the country and the problems in North Kingstown has to do with the union trying to “break [their] brothers” to break the system, hence the failure to answer phone calls.

“If, in fact, stress exists, it is inflicted by the union leadership on their union brothers,” Embury wrote, suggesting that union members were verbally instructed to not answer the calls.

Union members deny that charge and said Embury essentially revealed personnel records by listing specific instances and dates that phone calls were reportedly not returned.

In fact, union members said they’re actually working 48- and 72-hour shifts on a regular basis and other departments around the country on 24-hour shift cycles work on four-shift schedules and don’t have emergency medical services. On average, firefighters in North Kingstown are working 56 hour weeks without overtime, they said.