A NEW FIREFIGHTER'S TEST

BOSTON FIREFIGHTERS aren't shy about demanding their due from the
public based on the risks of the job. But now it is time for the
public to demand its due from the firefighters: mandatory, random
testing for drug and alcohol abuse to assure that firefighters are
fit for duty each time they don the gear.

Last week was a nadir for the department, after reports that
firefighter Paul Cahill was legally drunk and that firefighter Warren
Payne had traces of cocaine in his system when the two died fighting
an Aug. 29 fire in West Roxbury. The Menino administration wasted
little time appointing a three-member panel to examine substance
abuse problems and supervisory practices.

Like two previous panels in 1994 and 1999, this one is likely to
unearth a culture of lax supervision and blind loyalty to fellow
firefighters. But unlike the previous panels, the deaths of Cahill
and Payne should prompt urgent action. It remains to be determined if
impairment played any role in their deaths. But it is evident that
along with the flood of public sympathy for the men and their
families is more than a trickle of concern about the fitness for duty
of the city's firefighters.

City negotiators have been trying in earnest since 1999 to introduce
mandatory drug and alcohol testing in the fire department. But they
could never satisfy the inflated salary increases that the union
insisted upon in exchange for testing. It may be time to tackle the
problem from a different direction. Assurance that on-duty public
safety personnel will be clean and sober is too important an issue to
be subject to drawn-out negotiations. State legislators could show
real leadership by crafting a bill that addresses the need for public
employees in safety-sensitive jobs like firefighting to submit to
random testing outside the collective bargaining process.

Contract negotiations are in their usual mode: stalled. The sides
can't resolve familiar issues related to sick leave, modified duty
for injured firefighters, and health insurance. Firefighters reject
the city's reasonable offer of a 14 percent raise over four years.
Commission members, including former attorney general James Shannon,
offer fresh hope for shaking up the department. But theirs would not
be the first such report to be snuffed out by the Menino
administration's lack of follow-through.

Samuel Tyler, the head of the nonprofit Boston Municipal Research
Bureau, argues strongly that the review panel should keep operating
for at least a full calendar year after it delivers a report in
December. Quarterly progress reports, at least, may help to keep some
focus on the critical need for reforms in the department.

Recovery from the loss of Cahill and Payne will be a slow process.
But testing for drugs and alcohol needs to arrive swiftly to allay
the public's fears.