Firefighters

Some people don't know when to quit. Michael Dean is one of them. So is Dennis Conway and Florence Vandegrift and about 17 other firefighters. Their volunteer fire company went out of business a year ago. They haven't fought a fire since Christmas night 1986. But the members of the Brandywine Fire Company in Coatesville refuse to disband. They meet every Monday night for training, practicing how to hook hoses to fire hydrants and rescue people from burning homes. They are like players on a football team that has no games, only practices, brought together by pride, tradition and stubbornness.

I am a Philadelphia firefighter who is interested in increasing public awareness about what we do in the course of work every day. Maybe the citizens of Philadelphia would have a better understanding of why we should at least keep what we have in our contract - if not get more! Firefighting has a dual objective - saving lives and conserving property. But now in Philadelphia, firefighters have another task to perform. We are involved in the first responder (medical emergency) program.

In small-town politics, single issues can blaze out of control in an election year. And in Morton, what began in September as a practical concern for the borough's volunteer fire department engulfed three unendorsed Republican candidates Tuesday night. The campaign by six candidates for three at-large council seats centered on the controversy over whether the borough should borrow $400,000 for the construction of a municipal garage, which would also house the volunteers and their equipment.

Gibbstown volunteer firefighter Jerry Ray wants you to imagine it is 3 a.m. and that firefighters at the company's 50-year-old station are getting their pumper truck rolling on an emergency call. "It's dark, it's cold, and look how tight it is to get the truck out!" Ray said last week, pointing to the 4 inches of clearance between the truck's mirrors and the station's brick arches, built to the narrower standards of the 1940s. To prove Ray's point, firefighter John Lutz lurched the 31-foot-long fire engine forward until the driver's side mirror was even with the arch wall - and Lutz could just slip his fingers through the gap. On the passenger side, 3 inches of clearance remained.

Philadelphia officials have invalidated part of a promotion exam for firefighters because the answer to a crucial question leaked out in advance, city and union officials said yesterday. The investigation has delayed results for 127 Fire Department employees seeking to become deputy chiefs or battalion chiefs, according to Les Yost, president of the City Fire Fighters Association of Philadelphia. The association went to Common Pleas Court yesterday seeking to determine whether there had been a breach in the secrecy that is supposed to surround each exam - and what the city was doing about it. After meeting privately with attorneys for the union and the city, Judge Albert W. Sheppard concluded that there had been a leak and that the city should continue its investigation, Yost said.

William Hagan didn't hesitate when he saw a row of burning homes in Gloucester City last March - and two young children and their father trapped amid the flames. A firefighter and emergency medical technician for 34 years, Hagan hopped onto a parked car next to the family's house and then grabbed a boy and a girl as the father lowered them down. The family and nearly 40 other people escaped injury in the four-alarm blaze, which lighted the night sky and destroyed eight homes on Ridgeway Street.

Firefighters in Coatesville, at times frustrated by static-plagued portable radios while battling fires, will soon get relief. Coatesville City Council on Monday night approved spending $12,180 for a new fire-radio communication repeater system from Metropolitan Communication Inc. of Exton, described as state of the art by Coatesville Fire Chief Francis Pilotti. The system will eliminate the portable-to-portable radio communication problems and extend the city fire company's range to receive clear signals as far as 15 miles from Coatesville, city manager Ted Reed said.

WHERE did the commission that said that there are firehouses in Philadelphia that have less that one run a week gather the information? This is a lie. If anything, we need more equipment and manpower. Our response times are stretched now, which means it takes us longer to get to certain areas. Fire deaths are up, firefighter injuries are up, medic unit runs are up. Twenty-five percent of our medic units are only staffed and on the street half the time. Response time is a critical factor - just ask somebody hanging out a window or watching a loved one having a heart attack while waiting for the rescue squad.

It is difficult to understand how in this modern era, such a horrific accident could occur as did on July 4, when three little girls and three firefighters were lost in a house fire in Gloucester City ("Firefighting is cited in fatal blaze," May 29). I have the utmost respect for the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect my family, my neighbors, and me, but there has to be a higher standard of training, and protocol must be followed in order for the firefighters to safely do their jobs.

On March 17, we received a phone call at our home from a young girl, apparently being robbed. She sounded like our daughter, who lives alone in Philadelphia. We called 911, and 4th District Police responded immediately. Their investigation revealed that she had gone out to dinner and a show with a friend. The police, led by Sgt. Anthony Buchanico, did not stop there. They continued to trace her whereabouts, including the restaurant, the theater, her?friends, etc. The sergeant stayed in close phone contact with us. It was a prank call; our daughter was safe.