Village Fire Chief Richard Duffy said Monday at a Village Board meeting that all alcohol was removed from the Union and Eagle-Matt Lee firehouses Thursday after a vote of lieutenants and assistant chiefs.
'I could have ordered it, but this was their decision,' Duffy said.
He said the rank-and-file in the 139-member department are accepting the change.
'There is some disagreement, but this is the way it is,' Duffy said.
Some firefighters were drinking at the Union firehouse on Milton Avenue during the Super Bowl, Feb. 6. When a call came in, one of them fell down a flight of stairs and suffered a cut to his head. The firefighter was later treated at Saratoga Hospital.
Monday, village Mayor John Romano acknowledged this incident and said the firefighter has been suspended. Neither Romano nor Duffy would confirm the firefighter's name.
'His punishment will be internal, so I won't talk about it,' Duffy said. 'It could range from the suspension to being out of here.'
Romano said the firefighter has filed a claim through the county's workers compensation insurance program. Romano, in a brief, prepared statement, said the village would fight that claim.
In November, three firefighters -- Matt Wilski, Dan Jurcsak and Charles Travis --were forced to resign after a drunken prank incident came to light. The three men made prank 911 calls after setting up for a Halloween party at the Eagle-Matt Lee firehouse. When a village police officer responded, they took his car and moved it down the street.
At that time, both Romano and Duffy said they would review alcohol policies at the fire stations. Many volunteer fire departments in Saratoga County are already dry, including Schuyler Hose Co. in Schuylerville and the Greenfield Fire District, which includes Maple Avenue Fire Co. in Wilton.
Duffy wouldn't say Monday why it took a second incident to move the department to act.
'It is a fair question,' Duffy said. 'But I won't say anything.'
In November, several firefighters attended a village meeting to defend alcohol in the station.
Romano, once again reading from a statement, praised the department's decision to make the firehouses dry.
He wouldn't answer questions on the topic after the meeting and took Duffy in a back room so he would stop answering questions.
