An off-duty city firefighter was busted and charged with driving drunk with his two kids in the car, making him the fourth firefighter charged with DWI in the past month and putting the spotlight on a growing problem among New York's Bravest, sources said yesterday.
Cops stopped William Tracy, 36, on City Island around 5 p.m. Friday and charged him with driving while intoxicated and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Earlier that day, Tracy, an ex-cop who a neighbor said is separated from his wife, was involved in a domestic dispute in Nassau County, police sources said. Details of the dispute were unclear.
Tracy, a four-year veteran, worked out of Engine 46 in The Bronx, according to an FDNY spokesman, who said the matter is "under investigation."
Tracy's dad is a retired FDNY battalion chief, said one of his father's Hicksville, L.I., neighbors.
FDNY statistics show firefighters are getting charged with drunken driving in alarming numbers this year.
Cops have arrested 22 firefighters and officers and charged them with driving drunk or impaired between Jan. 1 and May 7, FDNY officials said.
At that rate, more than 60 firefighters will be charged with drunken driving by year's end, more than doubling the 27 arrests for last year.
Among those busted:
* Firefighter Philip Manfredi, 25, charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs and with marijuana possession April 4.
"I had two beers earlier in the night," Manfredi told a Bronx highway cop after swerving along the New England Thruway at 1 a.m. "I know my limit."
* Firefighter Ahmed Morsi, 32, busted April 7 in Queens after barreling through a red light at 42nd Street and Broadway at 2:30 a.m. and plowing into another car, police said.
Cops found Morsi vomiting near his car and discovered a bottle of Budweiser in the vehicle. He claimed he'd had two glasses of wine, the complaint charged.
Other DWI arrests since April 9 include a Staten Island firefighter who, police said, pretended to be a cop and punched another motorist in the face, and another who plowed his Jeep into a car in Brooklyn, killing a teen.
"We have many more cases now than we did before Sept. 11 [2001]," said Ronald Kliegerman, a lawyer who is paged when firefighters get busted. "I'm working every weekend."
Harsher punishment, in the form of docked days, hasn't stopped DWIs from piling up, records show.
Last year, DWI firefighters lost an average of 17 days' pay, compared with an average of 10 days in 2002.
The number of firefighters seeking counseling from the FDNY is also on the rise.
Last month, 127 firefighters and brass were getting help for alcohol and drug abuse, compared to 84 in April 2003.
"It's inherent in the job," said retired FDNY Lt. George Criscitiello, whose son was charged with drunken driving on Staten Island. "It's harder not to drink than to drink."
Additional reporting by Philip Messing & Erin Calabrese
