Fire Department

AN IN-DEPTH review of the city's Fire Department shows it's beset by racial tension, weak management systems, low morale and limited resources - all affecting service quality. In October 2010, the city asked the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, a state-appointed fiscal watchdog, to fund the $219,000 independent study by Berkshire Advisors Inc. A steering committee of city officials, union leaders and others also weighed in. The 289-page report released yesterday outlines dozens of recommendations, including revamping the organizational structure of the department, charging for some services and privatizing others, all of which could lead to $11 million in savings.

When the state agency that oversees the city's finances commissioned a report on the Philadelphia Fire Department two years ago, it was with the hope that a rational examination of the department's political hot-button issues could be done. That study, released Wednesday, did not shy away from some of the most controversial problems - referencing in the first few pages the distrust between labor and management, and the history of racial and gender tensions in the ranks. The report also described a Fire Department culture "resistant to change," and was critical of a management structure that "tends to reinforce the status quo. " "The gap between the current reality and the department's aspirations for itself is wide," the study said.

PHILADELPHIA Firefighting needs A study that will help determine how much of a fire department the city needs will be complete in mid-January, said Uri Monson, executive director of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority. The city asked PICA in October 2010 to fund an independent study to assess the Fire Department's management, operations, structure, system performance and service. Additionally, the study examines response times. Jobless rate dips Philadelphia's unemployment rate fell three-tenths of a percent to 10.6 percent from a year ago, but the city still ranks fifth highest among the 20 largest U.S. cities, City Controller Alan Butkovitz said in his monthly economic report.

An early morning fire severely damaged a strip mall in Andorra and sent a fire fighter to Roxborough Hospital, according to the fire department. The fire fighter's injuries were minor, but the two-alarm blaze blaze ruined several stores on the 8900 block of Ridge Avenue. The blaze was reported around 3:30 a.m. and under control at 4:51 a.m. As of 9:30 a.m., Ridge Avenue was still closed between Spring Lane and Cathedral Road, according to traffic.com.   Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com .  

A 55-year-old woman died early Sunday when fire ripped through a house in Philadelphia's Point Breeze section. The victim was Donna Aranda, according to the Fire Department, which provided no other details about the fire in the 2200 block of South Croskey Street. Neighbors said they knew nothing about the victim. "I think she was visiting," said Eloise Merritt, who lives a few doors away. Merritt said four or five houses were damaged in the fire. A man who jumped out of a second-story window was hospitalized, but the Fire Department said it had no information about his condition.

DANIEL Alan Williams was only a teenager when he got his first taste of activism in the cause of African-American equality. He was a student of Edward Bok Vocational High School when he became coordinator of a citywide walkout and rally by fellow high-school students to urge the study of African-American history in the schools. In later years, as an officer and later executive in the Fire Department, he challenged hiring and promotional practices in arguing for more opportunities for African-Americans.

LAST AUGUST, just five days after the start of a city policy of rolling brownouts at selected fire stations to save money, a 12-year-old boy with autism died in a raging fire in his West Philadelphia home. Although there is no evidence that Frank Marasco's death was a direct result of the city's brownout plan - in which about three fire stations are temporarily closed once a week on a rotational basis to save $3.8 million in overtime - his untimely death set off a heated debate about the city's cuts.

A 10-year-old girl remains in stable condition after being attacked by a pit bull Wednesday night in Mayfair, according to Fire Department officials. "She's doing good, very good," said Philadelphia Police Officer Robert Kroll, the stepfather of Olivia Kluzinski. She required a few stitches and remains at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, he said. Kroll said the dog was owned by one of his neighbors, whom he described as a good family friend, and the neighbor surrendered the dog Thursday morning to the Pennsylvania SPCA.

FIREFIGHTER John "Jack" Slivinski was enthusiastic on Friday when he talked with a friend, photographer Katherine Kostreva, about a fundraiser coming up in September for the widows of fallen Philadelphia firemen. "It was moving forward," Kostreva said yesterday. "He was excited about that. " One day later, the man she called a "brave hero" was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head inside his Lawndale home, police said. His father, John Slivinski Sr., also a firefighter, found the body before police were called at 4:20 a.m. to the home on Lawndale Avenue near Chandler Street, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said.