Chief Dennis Rubin is Outraged Over DOJ Ruling. Attorney General says PSOB Problems are “Unacceptable”.

Dennis Rubin was the chief of the Atlanta Fire Department when Firefighter Russell Schwantes died. Firefighter Schwantes had a massive heart attack after a training exercise at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on April 25, 2006.

Chief Rubin and many others in the fire service and in Congress feel that Schwantes’ survivors are due the $300,000 Public Safety Officers Benefit (PSOB). It is part of the 2003 Hometown Heroes Act intended to cover firefighters and police officers who die from heart attacks or strokes in the line of duty. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) denied the claim made by Russell Schwantes’ wife Athena.

Rubin, who is now chief of the District of Columbia Fire & EMS Department, said on Tuesday, “I was absolutely disgusted to learn of these developments”. In an email to STATter 911, Chief Rubin wrote that the “DOJ is obstructing a necessary resource for the grieving families of our fallen heroes”.

Rubin and other fire service leaders have long complained that DOJ has been slow in processing these claims and has denied the large majority of the ones that have moved forward. Athena Schwantes appeared at a July press conference on Capitol Hill, pressing for DOJ to solve the problem. At that time only a little more than 20 percent of the 253 claims had been processed, while just seven had been approved.

Also Tuesday, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales addressed problems with the program at the Fraternal Order of Police National Conference and Expo in Louisville, Kentucky.

In a DOJ press release containing a copy of his prepared remarks, Gonzales said: “I know that the administration of the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits program, specifically those claims filed under Hometown Heroes, is of grave concern to the FOP and its leadership. The delay in providing benefits is unacceptable to me. And I want you to know I have directed that improvements to that program be made immediately”.

Contacted by email Tuesday night, Chief Billy Goldfeder, who runs the website FirefighterCloseCalls.com, wrote: “All this ‘DOJ game’ does is allow the families to replay the nightmare of their loved one’s death over and over, as ‘their’ Federal Government, in one breath, thanks ‘Americas First Responders’ and then-out of the other side of their mouth, tells that family ‘to stick it’. All courtesy of the Department of Injustice”.

Athena Schwantes is expected to appeal the ruling.

For Chief Dennis Rubin this is a potential issue at his new job. In July, D.C. Fire & EMS Firefighter/Technician James McRae III died after complaining of chest pains while on duty. Chief Rubin said today: “Now is the time for our firefighting family to come together and call upon Congress to make this right. DCFD will join arm-in-arm with any department or individual who wants to take up this effort”.