Walker wants Paid Firefighters out. The Coatesville Paid Firefighters honored by the Crime Victims' Center

“The Referendum to do away with the paid firefighters; I would be totally against that…” Councilperson elect Joe Hamrick at the Coatesville City Council Budget Workshop on Monday November 30, 2009.

Listen here:

http://www.box.net/shared/ek286i5ru5

“The center selected the Coatesville Professional Firefighters Association Local No. 3790 of the International Association of Firefighters to receive its annual John J. Crane Allied Professional Award.”

City firefighters honored for work during arson crisis

Published: Sunday, December 6, 2009

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2009/12/06/news/srv0000006999769.txt

The Walker Administration is proposing a referendum to remove Coatesville paid firefighters.

How much more would homeowners pay for homeowner insurance in Coatesville without a paid firefighters? How much more property would be lost and how many more lives would be taken if Walker’s plan is carried out? Maybe most importantly would it encourage a new round of arson?

There is something concerning the Coatesville arson fires that’ not talked about at Coatesville City Council Meetings:

It’s the record keeping during the period when the volunteers kept records of fires in Coatesville.

Ask how many arson fires there were in Coatesville. The answer that will come back will be something like “more than” or “about” or some kind of vague answer. That’s because the records of fires by the volunteers are allegedly incomplete.

Could any of the arson fires have been prevented if all the arsons had been reported in a timely manner and the ATF brought in sooner?

Did the Governor need to lay down the law to the Walker Administration on one Sunday morning? If so why? Was the Walker Administration reluctant to declare an emergency that would bring in the PA Fire Marshal and ATF?

The Philadelphia Inquirer:
"(Coatesville Fire Chief) 'Johnson reported 295 in 2007, while union records show 733. When the union discovered the difference, it complained to city officials, but nothing was done, Poulson said. 'Fire-suppression services are in complete disarray,' Poulson said of Coatesville, adding, 'It's like the perfect storm for an arsonist.". Richard G. Poulson, is the attorney for the city's 13 paid part-time firefighters and four full-time firefighters."

"Hiring practices, management of Coatesville Fire Department criticized"

Source: Kathleen Brady Shea Inquirer Staff Writer

"On Jan. 17, 2001, police responded to a domestic dispute involving a man in camouflage gear waving a semiautomatic pistol. As two officers approached the Caln Township residence, a shot was fired "in such a manner as to place individuals in danger," court records said. Less than four years later, the person who shot the gun, Kevin Johnson, was hired as an assistant fire chief in Coatesville. His hiring is an example of Coatesville's weakness in screening"
Published on 2009-03-28, Page B01, Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)

See my post:

http://coatesvilledems.blogspot.com/2009/03/perfect-storm-for-arson.html