Report: Police investigate possible corruption in Fire Department; truck maintenance remains a shambles

It will be three years since the marathon bombings and soon fifteen since 9/11. Can we stop with the flag waving and First Responder worship and get down, almost literally, to the nuts and bolts of taking care of things when it comes to public safety?

The Fire Department was hurt greatly by the antagonisms between the union and the chip on Menino's shoulder that was so big it had measurable gravity.

The Union, while screaming for better equipment, doesn't exactly shine when ridiculous OT stories come out coupled with the firefighter cover situation that allowed for bumps in pay for covering for other firefighters even if only for a few hours. .

A lot of people point out that firefighters can be seen just sitting out front of the station, but how much are they worth to you when you are trapped inside a car after some ute crashes his car into you while drag racing on Beacon Street or how much are they worth when your house is on fire? It's a lot.

A wee amount of compromise on bad apples protected by Florian Hall and a better commitment to basic fire fighter safety would make the taxpayers (the ones paying for things) happy and would hopefully make a lot of this bad culture go away.

How hard is it to get someone to properly run a repair system for a fleet? Other departments and private companies do it everyday. Get cracking people.