Bad timing: Atlantic City firefighters forced to retire while battling blaze

http://www.nj.com/atlantic/index.ssf/2014/10/wo_atlantic_city_fire_department_retirements_were_planned_this_week_but_how_the_longtime_firefighter.html

ATLANTIC CITY — Two Atlantic City firefighters scheduled to retire on Oct. 1 were unable to finish battling a Tuesday night blaze once the clock struck midnight.

Battalion Chiefs Robert Macready and Kevin Bennett had to walk away since their paperwork had previously been submitted, according to a report on PressofAtlanticCity.com.

Macready, who was in charge at the scene handed over his duties to a deputy chief, the reported said.

The three-alarm fire, which destroyed four buildings and displaced 17 residents, broke out around 10 p.m. on Arctic Avenue. No one was injured.

Macready spent 41 years with the department; Bennett was a 31 year veteran. Both retired as battalion chiefs, the Press of Atlantic City reported.

Wind-whipped flames swept through the stores and apartments, destroying them.

The cause remains under investigation.

Wow

I bet if they'd have been hurt after midnight, they wouldn't have been covered by department insurance.

That's not bad timing, that's bad management.

I'm surprised they couldn't finish their tour. If we have people work overnight on their last day they work past midnight to finish their shift.

The passion firemen have for their job is astounding.

Bad timing.

Perhaps they had to get their disability paperwork in:

Public safety disability system 'ripe for abuse'

probably union rules..

nope.. city insurance rules. They were no longer covered after Midnight..

And good for them, they left the force doing exactly what they loved to do.. fighting a fire.

Zomby Woof wrote: That's not bad timing, that's bad management.

Absolutely not. What if they had been injured or killed after their official retirement date? That would have just opened up a world of bureaucratic hurt and a liability hell.

Sensational story headline aside, if their normal shift ended at 12, and they weren't retiring, would the same thing have happened?

Agreed, if it's time to bring in a fresh crew of guys who haven't been working for the last 8 or 12 hours, do it.

Epic timing, bad planning. Get to leave doing what you love... Good planning would have been 2 lounge chairs and a cooler full of beer in the back of the truck so that at 0001hrs they could've set up across the street and told them " how we used to do it"

Aircooled- quit trolling.

MattGent wrote: Sensational story headline aside, if their normal shift ended at 12, and they weren't retiring, would the same thing have happened?

That depends. First off, nobody's shift would end at midnight, it's generally 8am or 6 pm. In my department, if there's a fire at shift change and it's not under controlled, guys continue working and are paid overtime. If the fire is under control, a staff officer who is not involved in fireground operations will pick up replacement firefighters in station and drive them to the scene with their gear in a staff vehicle, since their truck is already there. They swap places with the previous crew and the staff officer brings the tired guys back to the station.

Most fire departments have a minimum manpower requirement. There must be a certain number of guys on duty at any given time. That means that even if your shift is over, you can't leave until you replacement arrives at the station. Things can get tricky when there's a big fire around shift change.

Duke wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote: That's not bad timing, that's bad management.

Absolutely not. What if they had been injured or killed after their official retirement date? That would have just opened up a *world* of bureaucratic hurt and a liability hell.

Who puts two guys on a shift when they're going to have to leave early, possibly causing a manpower shortage at the worst possible time? Somebody not doing their job.

They should have been on day shift that day, or (at least) had coverage set up beforehand.

Zomby Woof wrote: Who puts two guys on a shift when they're going to have to leave early, possibly causing a manpower shortage at the worst possible time? Somebody not doing their job....

Probably the responsibility of the battalion chief... oh wait...

Zomby Woof wrote:

Duke wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote: That's not bad timing, that's bad management.

Absolutely not. What if they had been injured or killed after their official retirement date? That would have just opened up a *world* of bureaucratic hurt and a liability hell.

Who puts two guys on a shift when they're going to have to leave early, possibly causing a manpower shortage at the worst possible time? Somebody not doing their job. They should have been on day shift that day, or (at least) had coverage set up beforehand.

That's not how it works.

I work a 24 hour shift. I go in at 8 am and I go home at 8 am the next day. When I put in my retirement papers, it will be effective as of a specific calendar day. There is a one in four chance that I will be scheduled to work on that day (there are four platoons and only one works on a given day). Your retirement date has more to do with your date of hire than your work schedule.

Maybe they should have scheduled the fire for a few hours later...

I know all about the 24hr shifts.

That doesn't mean that they couldn't arrange coverage or make a shift change.

Our shifts are not simply a scheduling assignment. It's a crew, a station, a specific truck and an area of the city.

I have been on the same "shift" for nine years.

So the only possibility is for the shift become shorthanded in the middle of a call?

It's likely they had coverage in place to replace them they just didn't want to give up the reigns until it was time. I'm sure their relief was probably with them for atleast half if not the entire shift.

Our shifts are 8am to 8am every 3rd day. But like this story when I retire it will be effective at midnight on that day, so someone will have to be hired on overtime to cover those last 8hrs.

As far as shift change goes if my relief calls out I'm there til someone is jerried(moved from one station to another) or overtime is hired. And running calls always comes first

Like most stories the headline probably makes it sound like a bigger story than it is.

Zomby Woof wrote: So the only possibility is for the shift become shorthanded in the middle of a call?

They were never shorthanded. Command was transferred to a qualified officer who was not part of the original assignment.

there isn't some sort of an exception for if they happen to be fighting a fire at the time?