Fire departments in Boston and Houston appear to be quite different. The Boston Fire Department takes pride in its history and tradition. The Houston Fire Department sees major changes with each newly elected mayor and newly appointed fire chief. But both departments made national headlines as a result of poor maintenance on each department's emergency vehicles, Boston just this year and Houston almost 15 years ago.

On Jan. 9, a Boston ladder truck's brakes failed and the rig crashed, killing Lt. Kevin Kelley, a 30-year veteran of the department. After the fatality, Fire Commissioner Roderick J. Fraser told the Boston Globe that the department did not have a routine preventive-maintenance program. It also did not have certified mechanics or trained vehicle technicians in its fleet-services department — despite having more than 200 pieces of equipment, 1,467 uniformed personnel, and 70 companies and units.

Emergency inspections after the fatal crash had to be stopped because too many rigs were being taken out of service. Even the department's 37-year-old fireboat had to be docked temporarily.

Investigative reports further revealed Boston's multitude of apparatus problems in recent years. On Feb. 20, 2007, a 100-foot, medium-duty aerial ladder was involved in an accident, and inspections revealed pre-existing damage to the turntable console that houses the ladder controls. On Dec. 31, 2008, Ladder 23 crashed into a fence when its brakes failed. In another incident, a rescue truck's throttle linkage snapped while responding to a fire call. Other apparatus problems surfaced: broken air horns, racing engines and more brake problems.

Troubled History

Soon after the accident, the city hired Mecury Associates to inspect its fire department fleet operations and make recommendations. The consultants were commissioned to identify the weaknesses that needed to be overcome; consequently the report focuses on negatives versus positives. The resulting 22-page report, “Maintenance Practices Assessment for Boston Fire Department,” is a shocking account of Boston's lack of preventive or scheduled maintenance, repairs and trained or certified personnel.

“The report speaks for itself and it's not very good,” Mercury president Paul Lauria said. “I have been a consultant for 25 years, and for a city its size and stature, it was pretty amazing. It's hard to fathom that when you ask ‘what the oil change intervals are,’ they have no idea.”

Among areas cited in the report are the lack of a professional fleet manager or professional apparatus maintenance technicians; no formally defined preventive maintenance program for fire apparatus; no documentation for annual inspections or oil changes reportedly performed and no checklist or other specifications as to what actions were done, and when. Also alleged in the report was inadequate driver training.

“Other than what they receive at the fire academy, firefighters receive no on-the-job training,” Lauria said. “Their Local 718 has been relatively quiet. It's hard to imagine that they are the ones that got firefighters exempt from getting [commercial driver's licenses].”

The report recommended specific actions for the Boston Fire Department to take at three month intervals for the next 18 months.

“We're not talking about a small municipality, but a city the size of Boston,” Lauria said. “Hopefully that report will have an impact.”

Texas-Sized Woes

But a major metropolitan department with a shoddy maintenance record is nothing new. Ten years ago, NBC's Dateline aired a segment on the Houston Fire Department's fleet-maintenance program. A local news channel previously had reported that a pumper arrived at a house fire without water, leading to the death of a young boy. Subsequent stories revealed leaking trucks, rusted aerials and other unsafe maintenance issues.