Firefighters

The May 24 article "Firefighters net millions in overtime" didn't address the lack of promotions and new hires in the Camden Fire Department, the mass retirement of firefighters, or the workload required of the firefighters who remain. These issues are out of control but were not mentioned in the article, leaving the reader with a one-sided story. The state Personnel Department, which controls hiring and promotions, did not conduct an exam for candidates for promotion for more than six years, nor did it provide an entrance exam for new hires that could withstand lawsuits.

After a season of bitter conflict, Philadelphia's firefighters will spend the holidays talking peace with Mayor Street over their unresolved labor dispute. City Managing Director Joe Martz told union President George Casey yesterday he wants to try and work out their differences in the wake of a court ruling Wednesday that left both sides dissatisfied. Casey said everyone is tired of fighting and he's willing to try. "I think we might be able to resolve this, now that this judge came out with this order," Casey said.

Firefighters call it the maze: a three-story concrete building with no windows and no road map; nothing but blackness - and billows of smoke. During a search and rescue drill last Sunday, three reporters experienced the maze. The exercise was one of three conducted for reporters at the Camden County Fire School on the Lakeland Complex in Gloucester Township to reproduce what firefighters go through searching for victims in a smoke-filled building. According to Rich Jankowski, chief instructor at the school, which trains firefighters from all over the county, finding victims is no easy task.

He already had the support of the city's police officers. Now he has the firefighters as well. U.S. Rep. Bob Brady was endorsed for mayor yesterday by Local 22 of the International Association of Fire Fighters. At a news conference outside a fire station in Northeast Philadelphia, union president Brian McBride called Brady a proven problem-solver who understands middle-class people in general and firefighters in particular. "Bob Brady will keep our streets safe, keep our firehouses open," said McBride, whose union represents 2,400 active firefighters and 2,000 retirees.

Firefighters succeeded yesterday in containing a blaze that burned about 325 acres of Pinelands in South Jersey's Wharton State Forest. Two dozen firefighters from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service continued to monitor the area, said Glenn Liepe, the Division C fire warden. "We flew over it this morning in an observation aircraft, and it looked pretty good," he said. "The fire is not threatening any homes or businesses. It's about 325 acres, and that's about where it should stay.

Despite intense opposition from unions representing public safety workers, the state Senate yesterday approved a Whitman administration proposal to slow the growth of salaries for police and firefighters. State Sen. Peter Inverso (R., Mercer), the sponsor of the bill, said that because salaries for police and firefighters are one of the biggest costs for local governments, the measure would go a long way toward controlling the growth of local property taxes. "Ultimately, the real beneficiaries of (the bill)

WILDWOOD - There were a few barely audible boos when Gov. Christie arrived at the New Jersey Firemen's Convention at the Wildwoods Convention Center. But two years after the same crowd jeered him so heartily that Christie has proudly recounted the incident to illustrate his willingness to do the unpopular - like force public workers to pay more for their benefits - the governor received an overwhelmingly positive reception Friday at the annual gathering. Some gave him a standing ovation as Christie bounded up the steps to the portable stage erected for the occasion.

Cherry Hill's paid firefighters voted 33-3 last night to work toward consolidating the township's six independent fire districts into one. In a meeting at Fire District No. 4's station, the members of the International Association of Firefighters took the vote in preparation for drawing up a petition they plan to present to Township Council in the next several months. They decided to seek one large district instead of a two-district system that would have had separate districts for the east and west sides of the township.

It was supposed to be in the bag for the incumbent. At the very worst, a squeaker for the challenger. But Les Yost pulled off a major upset yesterday by defeating City Fire Fighters Association president John McMenamin by a 4-to-1 ratio. Yost, a 27-year veteran of the Fire Department, including the last six as a union vice president, polled 2,096 votes to McMenamin's 565. "We won because I think I'm concerned about the main issues that the men have concerns about, the manpower, the pensions, the things I campaigned about," said Yost, who will be sworn in as head of Local 22 in July.

It's been almost a decade since East Greenwich Patrolman Steven Ridinger was a wrestler at Paulsboro High. But every day for the last several weeks, the 26-year-old officer has been pumping iron and running 100-yard sprints in preparation for a return to the mats. On Saturday, Ridinger plans to wrestle again as a participant in the first- ever Atlantic Coast Police and Fire Memorial Games. The three-day event, which begins Friday, is an Olympics-style amateur competition for police officers and firefighters.