They're Firefighters — Not Janitors

Some Cincinnati firefighters are complaining that they've been called in to fix the mess left by a contractor who built a $3.2 million fire station in Bond Hill that hasn’t been able to pass a building inspection to allow occupancy.

Because the city of Cincinnati is embroiled in a legal dispute with the company that built the facility, firefighters are being used to clean up the construction site and do the remaining work needed to make the building useable. The situation has angered many firefighters and paramedics, who say it's not their jobs to correct the mistakes and that their skills should be used to make fire and ambulance runs.

The building in question is for the Cincinnati Fire Department’s Firehouse No. 9, located on Reading Road near the Norwood Lateral.

Firefighter Kim M. Hoekstra, a 27-year department veteran, sent an e-mail Jan. 25 to the fire chief about the situation and copied the document to Cincinnati City Council, who was unaware of the dispute. Hoekstra’s e-mail thanks the chief for moving the fire squad “into a pig sty.”

“The construction dust and debris that we have moved in on top of will be great to clean around,” he wrote. “I understand that the city has legal issues with the contractor but we firefighters should not have to clean up the construction dust. We firefighters do not mind working but this is ridiculous. There is no other city department that would allow its employees to move into a new building in this dirty condition.”

Hoekstra describes the fire station’s condition as “kitchen cabinets dusty and dirty, dishwasher inoperable, personal lockers so dirty you can write your name in the dust, hand dryers not working in some bathrooms, no paper towel holders, toilet used during construction with (feces) stains, garage doors openers not working, every floor in the entire building dusty and dirty you can also write words in them, many other things, just come out and see.”

City council members are researching the issue and likely will ask City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. for a report.

— Kevin Osborne

Comments

[Not the Mamma Cass!]

I sense a Chris Smitherman/NAACP call of outrage/to protest coming.

Wait; check that. The Fire Chief is Black. Non-issue. Or it's White peoples' fault. Again.

[Political Junkie]

Way to divert attention from the real issue, Mamma. The point is, is this really the way we want our firemen and firewomen to spend their time? We just had problems with the CFD using too much overtime a few years ago. No wonder.