Fire Commish Ayers Defends Station Brown-Outs

Philadelphia fire commissioner Lloyd Ayers took aim at the fire fighters union on Thursday night, releasing a statement in defense of the periodic, temporary closing of some stations.

KYW's Pat Loeb reports that the statement was headlined, "Don't Let the Union Fool You."
Commissioner Ayers says he thinks fire fighters local 22 has created a false impression of the safety of the temporary closings, which the department calls brown-outs:

"The message they were sending out was as if there was never such a thing as a brown out."

Ayers says the city has been using brown-outs for training for years; now they're using them to cut overtime, to close a budget gap.

Union president Bill Gault says a better way to cut overtime would be to hire new firefighters:

"I don't know what's going on. It's been over two years since a fire class has been in there."

Gault stuck by his assessment that the brown-outs are unsafe.

(file photo by KYW's Mike DeNardo)