INCREASE SEEN IN TREATMENT FOR FIREFIGHTERS

The number of New York City firefighters and emergency medical service
workers being treated for alcohol and drug abuse this year is more
than 50 percent higher than it was last year, the Fire Department said
yesterday.

Between Jan. 1 and March 12, the department's counseling unit handled
102 cases of alcohol and drug abuse, Malachy Corrigan, the unit's
director said. During the same period last year, it handled 63 cases.

"This year, we're treating more cases of substance abuse in any
two-month period since Sept. 11 or during any two-month period in my
career with the Fire Department," said Mr. Corrigan, a 22-year
department veteran.

In addition, he said, the department opened 31 cases of post-traumatic
stress disorder during the same period this year. As the department
classifies cases according to a client's primary diagnosis, those
cases are not included in the alcohol or drug treatment figures.

That means that in addition to the drug and alcohol cases, a number of
people whose primary diagnosis is post-traumatic stress disorder are
also being treated for drug and alcohol problems.

And, firefighters say, some colleagues are seeking treatment outside
of the department - in some cases, out of fear of reporting their
problems to a department unit. The counseling unit has treated almost
half the firefighters and E.M.S. workers in a work force of 14,000.
The sudden rise in firefighters seeking treatment in substance abuse -
as well as treatment for other conditions - could result from delayed
reaction to Sept. 11, Mr. Corrigan said.

The counseling unit of the Fire Department has seen an increase in
every diagnostic category since Jan. 1, Mr. Corrigan said. After Sept.
11, the department's caseload went from an annual average of 600 cases
over all to 3,600. Most of those cases are for anxiety and bereavement
after the terrorist attack, Mr. Corrigan said. The alcohol and drug
treatment cases represent 4 percent of the counseling unit's total
caseload.

The increase in treatment for substance abuse coincides with a rash of
embarrassing incidents involving firefighters drinking while on duty.

In one, a Staten Island firefighter smashed a colleague's face with a
chair on New Year's Eve, critically injuring him. A captain of that
firehouse later admitted that he had allowed firefighters to drink
beer that afternoon after fighting a fire.

In February, a lieutenant and a captain assigned to an inspection unit
were found drinking in a Manhattan karaoke bar while on duty. And a
firefighter who crashed his fire engine into another as he raced to a
fire on Feb. 21 was high on cocaine at the time of the crash, the
department said. "Clearly with the events that have taken place,
there's a greater need to take a look at substance abuse in the Fire
Department," said Capt. Peter Gorman of the Uniformed Fire Officers
Association.

The increase also coincides with news, reported Thursday night on
WNBC-TV, that Cornell University researchers have found a risk of
alcoholism among New York City firefighters that is twice the national
workplace average.

The study, which is being done for the two unions that represent
firefighters and officers, has not yet been released, and a researcher
on the study, William J. Sonnenstuhl, said it was premature to comment
on the study since the data was still being analyzed.

Nicholas Scoppetta, the Fire Department commissioner, said he had
invited the leaders of the two fire unions to meet with him on Monday
to discuss the study and possible courses of action.

Although he could not comment on New York City firefighters in
particular - and what effect Sept. 11 has had on their substance abuse
- - Professor Sonnenstuhl said that past studies had shown that workers
in dangerous professions, like construction workers, railroad
engineers and firefighters, frequently had higher rates of alcoholism.

Before Sept. 11, the department's counseling unit typically treated
180 cases of alcoholism annually, Mr. Corrigan said. After Sept. 11,
that number remained roughly the same - until this year, that is. Mr.
Corrigan said it is possible that the sudden increase in firefighters
seeking substance abuse treatment could be a delayed reaction to Sept.
11.

Indeed, among the cases of post-traumatic stress disorder that the
counseling unit has treated, almost all of them have shown a delayed
onset of symptoms.

>From Sept. 11, 2001, through June 30, 2002, counselors treated only
three cases of post-traumatic stress disorder, Mr. Corrigan said. Mr.
Corrigan said he believed that having the chance to work at the World
Trade Center site in the months after the attack gave many rescuers a
sense of mission and delayed any onset of traumatic symptoms.

In July 2002, after the site was closed, 15 more firefighters and
E.M.S. workers sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mr. Corrigan, who said he was a practitioner and not a researcher,
said he could not draw any direct correlation between Sept. 11 and the
sudden increase in cases of substance abuse and post-traumatic stress
disorder. But he said that the counseling unit had assembled a team of
researchers from around the country who planned to analyze the
department's data.

Drinking, which was only banned from city firehouses 35 years ago, was
not uncommon in the Fire Department, retired firefighters said. Recent
reports of cocaine use by firefighters have surprised some department
veterans. But mental health experts say that it is the nature of
substance abuse among younger generations that they are likely to use
drugs as well as alcohol, after recreational drug use became more
acceptable in recent decades.

One commander in an elite unit that suffered heavy losses on Sept. 11
said while he had not seen drinking or drug abuse among his
firefighters, there had been more risky behavior, including the number
of risks they were willing to take while working, which is recognized
as a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder.