Firefighters were willing to help

The Kenosha News’ claim that the Kenosha Fire Department declined a plea from FEMA to send firefighters to help with the hurricane relief efforts is not completely true.

Within 24 hours of initial news of the disaster, the International Association of Firefighters had posted on its Web site a request from FEMA for 1,000 two-person firefighter teams.  At least six Kenosha firefighters expressed an interest in volunteering and approached local union president Al Horgen to learn how to go about doing so.  President Horgen met with fire department administrators and learned that no firefighters would be allowed time off if it required the department to pay overtime in order to cover their absence.  Fire administration’s position was made clear in an e-mail sent to all local members by Horgen on Sept. 2.

The union then began looking for individuals who would be interested in covering for the volunteers by donating their time.  Simultaneously, Horgen was also busy contacting FEMA in order to attempt to learn how much money the city would actually be out after reimbursement from the feds, if it did in fact cover the volunteers’ absence with overtime.  Fortunately, FEMA’s need for volunteers was quickly met in the short time it took Horgen to put together a second plan and begin a third.

The Kenosha News is quick to throw a dart at the firefighters union, which is completely undeserved.  The union had members ready to go.  And its president continued to attempt to make it happen right up to the time when FEMA said they had enough help.  Fire administration’s concerns about the impact of overtime pay relating to assistance in the Gulf states, as well as keeping full coverage here in the city of Kenosha, makes me shake my head in disbelief when I think about all the overtime dollars that were spent watering the grass along the lakefront this summer.

It’s unfortunate that the Kenosha News, like many others in the wake of Katrina, chose to point an incriminating finger and launch their dart before gathering all the facts.  If they had looked a little further, they could have been printing a laurel instead.

Matt Loewen

Taken in its entirety from the Voice of the People in the September 26, 2005 edition of the Kenosha News.