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BFD Proposes 'Brown Outs' To Save Money

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Jun 8, 2009 7:57 pm US/Eastern

BFD Proposes 'Brown Outs' To Save Money

BOSTON (WBZ) ― Boston fire officials are revealing more cuts to the department -- $7 million for fiscal year 2010.

That will require what the fire commissioner calls "brown outs" – pulling ladders out of service for a day to save on overtime -- a tool used now to send firefighters to training. "We're not doing something new that we haven't thought of before," said Commissioner Roderick Fraser.

Boston Firefighters Union head Eddy Kelly says it's dangerous and increases response times. "It's important to note that when one company is out of service for training, they're still available, still staffed. If they're browned out, they can't do that."

Boston's residents want to hear more details, but are initially concerned. "(Boston is a) big city and a lot of alarms go by our house every night, so I hope they're thinking about keeping appropriate staffing," said one resident.

Both sides acknowledge the tough economic times, but differ on where to cut. "Right now we're over our overtime budget for this year," said Fraser. "We have a fiscal responsibility to the people of the city to spend their money wisely."

"The city has an $802 million balance in their general fund," said Kelly. "Granted these are tough economic times, but we're not an after school program. We're about saving lives."

The department says how many brown outs they institute per day to save on overtime will be determined by how many firefighters call in sick and have to be covered.

The union says this is a political issue and argues firefighters would essentially be punished for taking a legitimate sick day by having their firehouse closed for the day.

Either way, the department plans to start these brown outs to save on overtime by July 1.

The Boston Fire Department said in Monday's meeting that they estimate they'll spend about $14 million on overtime in the next fiscal year.

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