Firefighters not red hot
for annexation this time
By Chip Drago
Mobile Bay Times
Don't expect Mobile's firefighters and paramedics to answer the call on the city's latest annexation bid as vigorously as they campaigned in behalf of last year's annexation measure, according to longtime Mobile fire fighter and now Bayou la Batre Fire Chief John Wiggins.
The Mobile Fire and Rescue Department figured prominently in last year's campaign to bring territory and revenue on the city's western outskirts into the city limits. On their own time, Fire and Rescue personnel participated in demonstrations and campaigned door-to-door to promote the advantages of annexation among residents in the affected areas.
Even though much of the annexation proposal was rejected, the effort can only be considered a success from the city's point of view because the area that did join the city -- Mobile Terrace -- brought along with it the tax revenue-rich, commercial corridor along Schillinger Road.
Some fire fighters claim Mayor Sam Jones' administration betrayed them, alleging a deal in which they agreed to promote annexation in exchange for a pay raise which never came or came in a package some firefighters deemed inadequate.
Wiggins and Jones agree that no such promise was made. Instead the city noted that the increased revenues from the newly-annexed Schillinger Road businesses would help to fund the Condrey study, an evaluation of the entire Mobile County personnel system including pay grades.
MFRD spokesman Steve Huffman said personnel did receive raises but some veteran firefighters grumbled that they received lesser raises than newcomers to the department. Huffman said the department loses "people to higher paying jobs all the time," so the pay increases were structured to encourage more recently employed and more recently trained firefighters to stay with MFRD.
"The mayor never promised us a raise," said Wiggins. "The mayor solicited our support (for annexation). We got on board and supported it financially as well as campaigning door-to-door. The mayor's promise to us or his statement to us was that he needed annexation to complete the Condrey study."
"The mayor made no false promises to us," Wiggins emphasized. "This mayor hasn't lied to us."
Nevertheless, said Wiggins, a leader in Mobile Firefighters Local 1349, department morale is as low as he has ever seen it in more than 30 years, but pay is not the primary reason.
"I served in Mobile 33 years and I've never seen morale as low as it is," said Wiggins. "The low morale is not about pay, just interdepartmental stuff."
According to Wiggins, morale plummeted with the adoption of a policy that prohibits MFRD personnel from parking their boats or utility trailers at the fire station. Because of their work schedules, firemen considered it a great convenience to be able to end a shift and go fishing or to proceed to a second job such as landscaping and lawn care without first having to go home, in some cases 20 miles, to get their boat or work equipment.
Firefighters typically work one day on, a 24-hour shift from 7 a.m. to 7 a.m., and two days off.
An incident at a fire station got the stricter policy ball rolling when a firefighter reportedly wanted to finish washing his boat before moving it to accomodate a deputy fire chief who wanted to park his car. In short order, the tiff escalated from a little bureaucratic grass fire to a real five-alarmer, the union taking the boating firefighter's side and City Hall backing the ranking department official. City Hall prevailed and a policy barring boats, trailers and the like from city property was enforced.
It was all a great shame, said Wiggins, not only because it lowered morale but it also prevented the firefighters from sprucing up the grounds around the fire stations during their down time.
"We took great pride in our lawn care and people can tell the difference (in the appearance of the grounds surrounding the fire stations)," said Wiggins. "Somebody working an 8-hour job, can prepare for the next day while they're at home. We don't have that luxury. If we're working a second job, we've got to leave the station to go to it. If you've got your equipment with you, it's something that helps the firefighter who has just pulled a 24-hour shift and keeps him from having to go home first, sometimes 20 miles, and that's a real inconvenience."
According to Wiggins, the fire fighters were led to believe the policy would be relaxed, but the restrictions remain tight.
But for the initial conflict, the live and let live atmosphere may have prevailed, said Huffman, but once it came under official review, an administrative point of view which valued the MFRD's image and the public's perception of the department's professionalism had to be respected.
Other concerns centered on questions of liability and "where do you draw the line?" If a 21-foot bay boat is okay, is a 36-foot, twin-engine behemoth also permissible? A utility trailer is one thing, but a tractor trailer is another.
"We were led to believe we would be able to do that (bring utility trailers with equipment back to the stations)," said Wiggins. "And it was not just guys with lawn service businesses. Say the firefighter gets off in the morning, before he could bring his boat in and he could leave when his shift ended to go fishing first thing in the morning. We're not allowed to do that anymore. We haven't found out the correct, precise reasoning, just that it's a policy that has been set forth.
"We were led to believe (of an impending rescinsion of the policy) to the point of a deputy fire chief had already written the letter to rescind the order, but then after the election (annexation referendums), the fire chief declined to do it," said Wiggins. "It's pretty frustrating to our guys because we did put forth a lot of effort (for annexation). It was a pretty tough blow. Absolutely, we're less enthusiastic, but it is not directed at the administration or the mayor. We're just frustrated because we were certainly led to believe something that hasn't happened."
Huffman said he expected that some firefighters would campaign for annexation in the four proposed areas which includes two larger areas, one along Moffett Road near Semmes and a second stretching from Rabbit Creek at Hwy. 90 through Tillmans Corner and into Theodore; and two smaller neighborhoods near Schillinger Road.
