To The Editor:

I would like to take this opportunity to address the actions taken by certain members of the Boston Fire Department last week in regard to renovation of the Grove Hall firehouse. The widespread inaccuracies and the sensationalism in the reporting of this matter are an embarrassment to the Boston Fire Department and its leadership.

In order to maintain order and discipline in a public safety agency such as the Boston Fire Department, it is necessary to have rules and procedures in place. Members of this Department receive clear instruction in these regulations as part of their basic training. As Fire Commissioner, it is my responsibility to enforce these ordinances and regulations. The controversy regarding the Grove Hall firehouse was the direct result of department officers failing to follow established rules, regulation, and policy. The subsequent reporting on this incident is an embarrassment to the Boston Fire Department.

The Grove Hall firehouse recently underwent a million-dollar restoration, which included the renovation of the exterior of the building. The company commanders at Grove Hall were aware of the scope of this work, which included the painting of the overhead doors. Prior to this renovation, and without authorization, certain individuals painted variations of the American flag on the exterior doors. Instead of fifty stars, these flags bore the numbers "23" and "24" on the blue fields. The numbers "343" and "911" were painted within a red stripe on one of the flags.

Fire Department policy requires authorization before any artwork or other changes are made to the exterior of Department buildings. No design or similar request for changes to the exterior of the Grove Hall firehouse was ever submitted to Fire Headquarters, and hence no approval was ever issued by the Fire Commissioner. Headquarters was not informed that there was a "memorial" on the front doors of the firehouse until it was reported in the media in the form of a snesationalized news story. Furthermore, the painters did not seek any input from the local community. Clearly, the officers responsible to follow clear procedures failed.

By contrast, the members of Engine 30 and Ladder 25 sought to establish a memorial to FF Gerry Dewan, FDNY, who died in the line of duty at the World Trade Center in New York on September11, 2001. The proponents of this memorial submitted their plan to my office and I was proud to work with them in the design, establishment, and dedication of the memorial.

The suggestion that the leadership of the Boston Fire Department is insensitive to the sacrifice of the firefighters who have fallen in the line of duty is groundless and worthy of censure. As a member of the Boston Fire Department for over thirty-eight years, I have upheld the proud history and the honorable traditions of the fire service.

My record of honoring the sacrifices of our brother and sister firefighters is clear. In addition to the memorial to Firefighter Dewan, I fought for five years, along with the late District Fire Chief Gerard Molito, to establish the Vendome Firefighters Memorial on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall. On September 11, 2001, the Boston Fire Department was among the first to support New York as I dispatched a deputy chief, a district fire chief, and the Local 718 vice-president to render assistance to FDNY. I ordered that American flag decals be affixed to all Boston Fire apparatus and fire fighter bunker gear following 9/11. I also dedicated a conference room at Fire Headquarters to the memory of those who died in the line of duty in New York on 9/11.

It is a sad and shameful day for the Boston Fire Department that a few of its members, for reasons known only to them, would present such a despicable manipulation of the truth. It is a particular outrage that in doing so, they would invoke the memory of those fallen New York firefighters, whose bravery and sacrifice have brought such honor upon the entire American fire service.

Paul A. Christian
Fire Commissioner, Chief of Department