Two Prov. fire stations on watch indefinitely

June 21, 2016 5:56 pm

By: Rebecca Turco

Email: rturco@abc6.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Two Providence fire stations are on watch indefinitely over major safety violations.

The Brook Street and Mount Pleasant Avenue fire stations don’t have carbon monoxide detectors or up-to-code fire alarms.

A Rhode Island Fire Safety Code Board of Appeal & Review meeting was heated at times, as the city requested leniency from the state fire marshal’s order for 24/7 watch detail at the two stations.

"I can’t ask my office to enforce the code one way against the general public but another way against the city of Providence, and quite frankly, the city of Providence shouldn’t be doing that either," explained State Fire Marshal John Chartier.

The fire marshal had notified the city of these safety violations back in March, giving them a 30-day window to file an appeal or make the changes. Neither happened.

On Tuesday, the Providence Public Safety Commissioner pointed to the city’s efforts to install temporary battery-operated alarms until everything is up to code, as an alternative. "For fire detail to continue on beyond several weeks, it’s not a good use of our resources," explained Steven Pare.

The city’s plan is to rotate on-duty firefighters to do the watch, in order to avoid overtime costs. If the detail duty gets sent to a call, another station would pitch in. "Our measures have been approved so I’m very happy about that,” said Mayor Jorge Elorza. “We’re well on our way to fixing the issue."

The city put the fire watch plan into place Monday night. Chartier says it wasn’t his intention to have on-duty firefighters do it, but that he’ll wait to judge until he sees the plan in place.