The FDNY has been operating its new $27 million fireboat without a properly trained or licensed crew, a veteran firefighter charges.
The department was in such a rush to get the pride of the fleet – named "343," for the number of firefighters who perished on 9/11 — into service last year that it broke the law by ordering Marine Unit members to take the ship out before they’d ever set foot aboard the massive, 500-ton, 8,000-horsepower boat.
There had been no walkthroughs and no one from the manufacturer was on hand to supervise last May when Firefighter Frederick Domini, a retired U.S. Coast Guard engineer who is licensed to handle only a 3,000-horsepower vessel, and others were told to get the vessel shipshape.
A 12-year veteran of the Marine Unit, Domini refused, calling the move unsafe after just two and half days of landside lectures instead of hands-on training, and noting that the boat had no life vests or fire extinguishers on board at the time.
"Who the f— do you think you are?" Battalion Chief James Dalton allegedly spat at Domini in a nose-to-nose confrontation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. "I don’t give a flying f—k. You licensed engineers should be able to get on any ship and run the f—king plant!"
When Domini continued to raise his concerns, Dalton told him to either get on board the 140-foot boat, or go sweep and mop the unit’s headquarters, according to a lawsuit filed by Domini against the FDNY last week in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Domini chose the mop and broom. He was later docked 10 days pay and spent 90 days on assignment outside the Marine Unit as punishment.
Fireboat 343 was christened last Sept. 11 and lauded as a technological marvel capable of pumping 50,000 gallons of water a minute and detecting biological and chemical agents, and boasting state-of-the-art communications equipment.
None of the Marine Unit members are properly licensed to handle a ship as large as Fireboat 343, and U.S. Coast Guard regulations require them to be familiar with a vessel before taking the helm, the Long Island firefighter claims in court papers.
"343 is an accident waiting to happen," according to the lawsuit.
The new boat recently spent time in dry dock for a host of technical glitches. It also was damaged, Domini revealed in his suit, when supervisors insisted on taking its sister boat, Fireboat II, out during a January storm and it collided with the 343 while leaving the dock.
Domini, who still works for the FDNY, seeks unspecified damages as well as a special master or Coast Guard overseer who will force the FDNY to perform what is known as a "shakedown cruise" — in which FDNY crews "learn first-hand and by demonstration the proper, safe operation of the vessel."
The FDNY declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Republished with permission of The New York Post
