Chip's Blog

As I watched the news this morning, I was hit with the images of a fire on the pier in Boston.  Alarms were struck overnight, seven of them, for a fire at the James Hook Lobster Co. at the corner of Atlantic and Northern Aves.  As I watched all the raised ladders and flowing ladder pipes, I harkened back to a day in June in 1994.  Nine alrams were struck that day, and at the end of the day a valiant Boston Fire Lieutenant was dead.  I remember the day well, both with deep sadness and enormous pride.  I was saddened, as I have too frequently been, by the death of one of my brethren.  But I was proud, deeply proud or the tradition Lt. Stephen Minehan carried to his grave.  His was a story of bravery, sacrifice, courage and most importantly loyalty.

That day, fire crews were summoned to a stubborn blaze on the pier in Charlestown.  A vacant warehouse was on fire.  It was extremely difficult to get to, since it was rally just a sturcture built on a pier.  Fire crews were sent into the building to search for occupants.  Homeless people sleep in abandoned warehouses.  They did in Worcester in 1999, too.  Six of my brethren died that night....

When no occupants were found, fire operations continued inside the burning building because it was extremely difficult to fight it from outside, due to the fact that it was on the pier.  As fire conditions deteriorated, two Boston Jakes became trapped in the building.  Due to intense smoke conditions, firefighters Terrence Jones and Darrell Johnson were trapped in the building.  On arrival, crews for Boston  Ladder 15 from the Prudential Center station were sent into the building to search for and rescue the two trapped firefighters.  Both men were rescued. As an aside, both of these firefighters were black. The Lieutenant who commanded Ladder 15 died saving his brethren.  For the record, Stevie Minehan was a white Irish Catholic kid from Dorchester.  In the fire service, neither race nor gender affects loyalty...not one iota.  Stevie Minehan proved that.

As we discuss issues like pensions and sick time.  As we discuss issues like drug and alcohol use and testing.  As we discuss union contracts and pay rates, let us remember this: The images we see on our television of fire crews in action are the faces of courage and dedication.  They are the faces of commitment and loyalty.

Their dedication is to each other and to you.  Their courage and loyalty have no racial or ethnic bounds and do not factor in socio-economics.  Be angry with the system if you will; I certainly am.  But don't be angry with the men and women who show up every day for you.