A Baltimore City Council member is proposing legislation that would require firefighters to wear body cameras.Councilwoman Danielle McCray, D-District 2, introduced the Firefighter Safety Act at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.”The Firefighter Safety Act was crafted based on best practices set forth by the National Fire Protection Association and the International Association of Fire Chiefs,” McCray said at Tuesday night’s meeting.It comes almost a month since three Baltimore City firefighters were killed when they were fighting a fire at a vacant home that collapsed. McCray said the bill is aimed at preventing future tragedies; however, city fire officials and union representatives said, so far, they were not brought into the conversation and there is much to discuss.”Although we cannot bring back those we have lost, as a council, we are in the position to abate the great consequences of future errors, and we can see to it that safety measures and equipment are in place to ensure that Baltimore City does not incur such great loss again on our watch,” McCray said at Tuesday night’s meeting.The bill would establish new rules of engagement for fighting vacant structure fires, require each firefighter to be equipped with a digital and video recording devices and require a safety and risk management officer to report directly to the chief.Both city fire unions and department officials said they were never asked for input on the bill.Baltimore City Fire Department spokeswoman Blair Adams sent a statement to 11 News, saying: “We were not consulted about the Firefighter Safety Act in advance. We do, however, look forward to having a robust conversation with the council about this.””My first reaction was kind of shocked because neither local (union) was consulted,” IAFF Local 734 President Rich Langford told 11 News. “I think it has good intent to it, but it’s something that needs to be sat down with the unions, the fire department, administration to kind of get to the bottom of this. We’ve had public reports done. Let’s look at all these reports and come together as a group and put a better plan in place.”Langford said the City Council recently commissioned and paid for a more-than-300-page report that highlighted 28 recommendations the department needed to fix, and so far, only a handful have been addressed.”What we’re asking is the City Council Public Safety Committee to sit with us and go through this report,” Langford said. “We have plenty of issues in the fire department — staffing issues, apparatus issues, rundown fire stations. Let’s look at the department as a whole and put a plan that affects our membership and also helps the citizens of Baltimore.”Langford said he is ultimately hopeful the department and the city can work something out.”Hopefully, with this tragedy that happened, the city government, administration will all work together to find ways to make this department better and don’t let this tragedy go in vain,” Langford said.McCray was unavailable Wednesday for an interview but told 11 News through a statement that she is looking forward to meeting with all stakeholders on this issue. Both unions said they plan to meet with the councilwoman and the City Council’s Public Safety Committee in the coming weeks.
A Baltimore City Council member is proposing legislation that would require firefighters to wear body cameras.
Councilwoman Danielle McCray, D-District 2, introduced the Firefighter Safety Act at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.
“The Firefighter Safety Act was crafted based on best practices set forth by the National Fire Protection Association and the International Association of Fire Chiefs,” McCray said at Tuesday night’s meeting.
It comes almost a month since three Baltimore City firefighters were killed when they were fighting a fire at a vacant home that collapsed. McCray said the bill is aimed at preventing future tragedies; however, city fire officials and union representatives said, so far, they were not brought into the conversation and there is much to discuss.
“Although we cannot bring back those we have lost, as a council, we are in the position to abate the great consequences of future errors, and we can see to it that safety measures and equipment are in place to ensure that Baltimore City does not incur such great loss again on our watch,” McCray said at Tuesday night’s meeting.
The bill would establish new rules of engagement for fighting vacant structure fires, require each firefighter to be equipped with a digital and video recording devices and require a safety and risk management officer to report directly to the chief.
Both city fire unions and department officials said they were never asked for input on the bill.
Baltimore City Fire Department spokeswoman Blair Adams sent a statement to 11 News, saying: “We were not consulted about the Firefighter Safety Act in advance. We do, however, look forward to having a robust conversation with the council about this.”
“My first reaction was kind of shocked because neither local (union) was consulted,” IAFF Local 734 President Rich Langford told 11 News. “I think it has good intent to it, but it’s something that needs to be sat down with the unions, the fire department, administration to kind of get to the bottom of this. We’ve had public reports done. Let’s look at all these reports and come together as a group and put a better plan in place.”
Langford said the City Council recently commissioned and paid for a more-than-300-page report that highlighted 28 recommendations the department needed to fix, and so far, only a handful have been addressed.
“What we’re asking is the City Council Public Safety Committee to sit with us and go through this report,” Langford said. “We have plenty of issues in the fire department — staffing issues, apparatus issues, rundown fire stations. Let’s look at the department as a whole and put a plan that affects our membership and also helps the citizens of Baltimore.”
Langford said he is ultimately hopeful the department and the city can work something out.
“Hopefully, with this tragedy that happened, the city government, administration will all work together to find ways to make this department better and don’t let this tragedy go in vain,” Langford said.
McCray was unavailable Wednesday for an interview but told 11 News through a statement that she is looking forward to meeting with all stakeholders on this issue. Both unions said they plan to meet with the councilwoman and the City Council’s Public Safety Committee in the coming weeks.
