Haverhill's Mayor has total disregard for Firefighters and public safety.

As an independent photographer and journalist I have done my best to stay as neutral on a topic as possible. Not letting my emotions get the better of me. Or writing a story which is one sided or does not contain all the facts from all sides; but; recently I found myself caught up in a story which is one sided. The reason that is, is because there is only one side involved with the story which is being transparent and truthful. That story is about the Haverhill Fire Department.

For the past year or so the Haverhill Fire Fighters have been trying to bargain with the City of Haverhill for more man power per shift to better serve and protect the citizens of the City, but Mayor Fiorentini has fought back saying the Fire Fighters contention for more manpower is made up. That there is no such need. Regardless of the facts put out by the Union which shows the number of firefighters needed to fight a fire in high rise; which the City has plenty of; compared to the actual number of firefighters per shift which respond to such a call. And he has personally refused to meet with the Union although he has publicly made statement he would.

The Fire Fighters have also been asking for newer trucks to replace their aging fleet, which contains several rigs which are currently on the roads but are deemed unsafe with issues like a broken chassis or a rusted out turntable as the primary ladder, Ladder 1 has seen below. That could mean the ladder shows up but is unable to go be raised. Or a crack chassis as there is in the Rescue seen below, which responds on every call for fire and vehicle accident across the entire City . Yes I will admit that the City does have a new Rescue on order, scheduled to arrive early 2020.

And to replace their reserve fleet of rigs which contains trucks which are over 30 plus years old, but the Mayor has tried to justify and rationalize it by falsely saying how the trucks are cycled around the City 1st serving in the High or Water Street stations for 6 years then serving in the 16th Avenue or Bradford Station for another 6 years then serving as a reserve piece. But as I previously said the current reserve piece is over 19 years old, which would make it a year too old to be the reserve. If the Mayors time line played out like he claims the one of the Engines in the Villages would already have been replaced and the City would not have the Antique roadshow rolling up and down its streets. And these rigs played a critical role responding to the mill fire.

Continuing down the list of things which the Mayor has refused to address or not address; but; wants to brag about how he has a financial surplus is aging stations with leaking roof at the 16th Avenue station, which is causing black mold in the Fire Fighters living quarters. Also, causing the ceilings to fall in. Or if that doesn’t sound bad the Water Street station has paint chips falling from the ceiling and broken windows covered with thin piece of Plexiglas which does not stop the cold from coming into the station. Then there is the lack of backup generators at the Water Street Station, which means the Fire Fighters have to manually open the apparatus bay doors during emergencies delaying their response.

And I should mention that after the Mayor was challenged on these fact about these issues on social media; in which he commented on; he took down all his comments. Began trying to do his own social media push with skewed facts. And if that was not all, he also began blocking people from public social media sites which he has access to control in spite of recent Supreme Court Rulings which clearly states that you can not stop people from accessing, commenting on public social media sites.

So, I have tried to keep this story balanced; but; when the facts are out there and they tell a story which is backed up by one side; Haverhill Fire Fighters; and do not match the fact which the other side; the Mayor; then the story ends up one sided. And unfortunately for the people of Haverhill it tell a story in which the Mayor of the City is more concerned with having a financial surplus and being able to brag about it; as he has done on social media; then he is concerned with the safety of the citizens and the fire fighters who protect them.

Photos courtesy of Gary Huber.