Firefighters from Station 39 in Memphis, Tennessee were unavailable for seven hours on Tuesday because the city didn’t have anyone to fix a flat tire. Here are the details from WPTY-TV’s Jeni DiPrizio:
The city used to contract with Around Town Tire and Trucking for tire repairs. The contract was cancelled in May, after the FBI started investigating the tire repair company and its city contract.
Joe Norman is the spokesperson for the Memphis Firefighter’s Association, “To have a piece of equipment out of service for any amount of time is unacceptable. It left the citizens unprotected. To sit there an hour, two hours, five hours is unacceptable and completely ridiculous.”
The Memphis Fire Department used to be responsible for its own truck repairs. Two years ago, the city’s General Services Division became responsible for the trucks and that’s when the contract with Around Town Tire was implemented.
A spokesperson for the city said there was a temporary agreement with a company to fix flats that ended yesterday. Now, a new “stop gap” measure is in place to fix flats after hours. However no one from city has clarified what that stop gap measure is.
Earlier this month, Mayor A C Wharton hired a consultant to look at problems in the General Services Division. It is also under FBI investigation.
Also on STATter911 …
- Raw video: Two large buildings gutted in Fort Collins, Colorado three-alarm fire. – October 25, 2011
- Memphis firefighter & son arrested at fire in their own home. Police say William Land complained about response time. – August 2, 2011
- Omaha, Nebraska firefighters say cuts impacted rescue. Closest ladder truck not available for woman trapped in fire. – April 20, 2011
- DC firefighter paid for not showing up to work for more than two years. Part of a 2008 corruption probe. – December 9, 2010
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In the District of Columbia, it takes 15 hours to change the oil on a ladder truck..lol
Seems to be the new trend, as budgets shrink so do the operations at our city shop, quantity and quality of work are diminishing daily. Fire Department administrators, time to stand up and scream at the top of your lungs that the bleeding has to stop.
howabout picking up a spare instead of making a political show?
Sounds like LVFC to me Hook!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!!
In response to itzall6. Like most career departments they probably don’t have the equipment or a spare at the station. And the Firemen probably are not allowed to do repairs. Please stick with what you know.
Wow, that a interesting problem