Fire Department

An eight-year-old racial-discrimination lawsuit brought by two deputy fire chiefs against Camden and its fire chief has been dismissed, according to court records. Under the settlement, which has been tentatively approved by attorneys, Fire Chief Joseph Marini would retire and the deputy chief still in the department would leave next year, according to sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The other deputy already has retired. Gregg L. Zeff, the attorney for former Deputy Chief Terrence Crowder and Deputy Chief Kevin Hailey, who are black, confirmed that a $1.15 million settlement has been tentatively reached.

About two dozen firefighters gathered outside City Hall yesterday to demonstrate their support for fired Fire Capt. Asa Grimes, a 24-year veteran of the department. As they rallied, two ladder trucks rolled by and sounded air horns in agreement. The rally was called by Valiants Inc., the association of African-American firefighters, which is urging Mayor Street to rescind Grimes' dismissal and has called for an independent investigation of his firing. "This is a travesty of justice that now, after 24 years of service, I am dismissed without due process, and I am asking the mayor to look into the matter," said Grimes.

The two paramedics who pronounced a terminally ill Wynnefield woman dead nearly 22 hours before she passed away have been placed on administrative duty pending a "full-scale" investigation, officials said yesterday. Fire Department paramedics Donald Horvath, 40, and Frederic Cureton, 49, are no longer permitted to respond to calls until the investigation is complete and a final determination is made regarding their status, fire officials said. Both Horvath, a paramedic since 1990, and Cureton, hired in 1989, have been suspended by the department in the past in connection with their jobs, officials said.

When I think of Battalion Chief Lloyd Ayers, two movies about firefighting come to mind. Ayers, a Philadelphia firefighter, could have easily been one of the many characters in the 1991 movie Backdraft, a popular film starring Kurt Russell and Robert De Niro, which highlighted the bravery and valor of firefighters and the dangers they face every day. Fulfilling a childhood dream, Ayers, 39, joined the department in 1973 after coming out...

As West Bradford's population grows, the Board of Supervisors says it wants to take a closer look at the operations of the township's fire company. And the fire company says it is doing its part to meet that growth by building a new $300,000 substation, which it hopes to have completed next year. But relations between the township and its 45-member all-volunteer fire company have been strained since Supervisor John Haiko's house burned to the ground Feb. 5. Because a dispatching error that sent them to the wrong address and hampered by a lack of water, firefighters were unable to save Haiko's $300,000 home on Telegraph Road.

With a referendum on the issue less than two weeks away, residents and politicians are nowhere near agreement on the fire department's request to buy a utility truck costing as much as $160,000. At a meeting Wednesday sponsored by Concerned Citizens of Brooklawn, a question-and-answer session degenerated into name-calling and mud-slinging among residents, firefighters and politicians. And many questions about the purchase of the truck remained unanswered. The referendum on Nov. 7 asks whether the borough "should" buy a new truck.

Mayor Gwendolyn Faison's proposed 2002 budget, presented to City Council Wednesday, provides funding for a number of initiatives she vowed will bring progress and improvement to the lives of Camden residents. The $114.5 million budget calls for adding 30 recruits to the city Fire Department to curb overtime costs and improve public safety. Faison also promised money to purchase new fire trucks. The department has long complained that its equipment is aging and inadequate. The Police Department, whose Chief Robert Allenbach has been involved in a spat with Faison over his commitment to community policing, would also get funding to hire 30 recruits who would start work in January.

It was the job for which she took a pay cut, left the security of 11 years as a clerk with the District Attorney's Office, worked to pass a rigorous regime of physical and academic training, and took an unofficial hazing because of her gender and race. Firefighting was a job she loved, Katrina Northern told a federal jury yesterday, and one she would never dishonor by refusing an assignment. "My hope for over three years has been to go back to the Fire Department," Northern testified, adding: "I did not do anything to deserve to be here today.

Fire Commissioner Harold B. Hairston met with female firefighters yesterday to begin "healing" a department that has been rocked by accusations of sexual harassment and bias, a fire spokesman said. Today, the rank and file's union, Local 22 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, is to hold a news conference to assert that the allegations - which were brought up in a recently settled federal civil suit - are without merit. The allegations surfaced during the trial for an African American woman and former firefighter who was fired by Hairston for allegedly refusing to make a paramedic run. Katrina Northern accused Hairston, who also is African American, and the city of sexual and racial discrimination.

The borough's two fire companies are asking residents to pay more for fire protection next year. The council decided March 8 to place the Fire Department's request for a 2- mill increase on the November ballot. The increase would generate an additional $30,000, to be split between the Capitol View and Union companies. The borough now earmarks 5 mills, or $75,000, annually for fire protection. Residents owning homes assessed at the borough's $4,500 average would pay an additional $9 for fire service, or a total of about $32 annually, if the fire tax rate jumps from 5 to 7 mills.