Requests by two Livonia firefighters to be allowed to head to the Gulf Coast to help in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts were denied by city fire officials, who cited manpower issues.
Capt. Jon Vincent and Firefighter Jerry Eizen, who wanted to travel to the areas devastated by Katrina, learned Thursday that their department was refusing to let them go.
"There's minimum daily staffing in the collective bargaining agreement," explained Fire Chief Alan Brandenmihl, pointing to the rule that 21 firefighters be on duty 24 hours a day, and saying that he's seen an increase in the number of sick days taken by firefighters.
"Because of that, losing two personnel to go down and perform non-firefighter and EMS functions did not seem to be a prudent expenditure."
After the storm hit, the Federal Emergency Management Agency requested 2,000 firefighters from departments around the United States to aid the rescue and recovery in the hard-hit hurricane areas.
Brandenmihl added that though his men's salaries would be covered by FEMA, local fire departments would not get money to backfill the positions while the volunteers were in the South.
"It's a very uncomfortable thing for me," the chief confessed. "I'd love to send people to New Orleans. My wife grew up in New Orleans. She still has family in New Orleans. Many of them no longer have houses. I have a personal connection that more firefighters don't have here. I think the world of those firefighters who volunteered to go there."
Livonia currently has 80 firefighters, though at the department's height in the early 1980s that number was at 108.
Eizen didn't buy the manpower excuse, though.
"The Redford Township Fire Department sent and the West Bloomfield Fire Department sent, and they're smaller departments," he said.
Like Brandenmihl, Eizen has a special bond with New Orleans: His wife, Becky, is from there and still has family in the city.
The other rebuffed volunteer, Vincent, is scheduled to retire later this month after more than two decades of service. He was willing to miss his Friday good-bye party so he could help with hurricane cleanup.
