Haverhill Firefighters Local 1011
Help keep our hometown safe, support your local firefighters
The Haverhill Fire Department acted decisively in response to a structure fire at 39 School St, at 7:55 PM on May 7, 2024. Before swiftly containing the blaze within thirty minutes. Upon receiving a telephone alarm, Deputy Chief Roberts, along with fire apparatus, arrived promptly at the scene to find smoke and fire on the […]
Haverhill Fire Department Responded Swiftly to School St For A Fire, Rescues Pet, and Prevents Further Losses
Congresswomen Lori Trahan presented the Haverhill Fire Department with the ceremonial check for 16 new full-time firefighters on the department for the next 3 years, 100% of personnel costs covered by the S.A.F.E.R. FEMA Grant, worth over $4.1 million. There were many thanks made during the event while standing in front of the Bradford Fire Station where the Bradford Ladder 4 crew will be staffed as of June next year. Joining with us to celebrate was Congresswoman Trahan, State Senator Payano, State Representative Vargas, State Representative Hamilton, City Councilor and Mayor Elect Melinda Barrett, City Council President Jordan, City Councilor Lewandowski, & City Councilor Bevilacqua.
We’d like to once again thank the members of the Haverhill Firefighters Local 1011 in-house firefighter grant writers who wrote this grant for the city: Grant Team Leader Richard Shellene, Brian Ray, James Bizeur, Ryan Fairbanks, & Timothy Carroll. As well as the advocacy we gratefully received from US Senator Warren, US Senator Markey, alongside Congresswoman Trahan.
Special thank you to the work done by Chief Robert O’Brien, Local President Tim Carroll, & Local Secretary Ryan Fairbanks for their efforts towards procuring this grant by their years of work before, during, and after this grant was awarded to Haverhill. Work that was shared by our strongest supporters in the Haverhill City Council: Tim Jordan, Melissa Lewandowski, John Michitson, Colin LePage, & Melinda Barrett.
There is a lot of work still being done to prepare for these new firefighters to join the department early next year. We hope to update you more as the process continues. Please see the pictures below provided by Mike Jarvis from Jarvi Productions.
The Haverhill City Council Public Safety Subcommittee met last night to discuss the needs of the Haverhill Fire Department, the results of the CPSM Audit, and to hear recommendations from the public, firefighters, and Fire Chief O’Brien. Unfortunately, Fire Chief O’Brien was ordered by Mayor Fiorentini to not attend the meeting. The members of the subcommittee and firefighter’s union all expressed their disappointment with Mayor Fiorentini for his action in preventing the public from hearing directly from the city’s fire chief. The members of the subcommittee and firefighter’s union all expressed similar priorities for improving funding to the fire department in coming years. Please see the list of requests Local 1011 President Carroll presented to the city council subcommittee in accordance with the study (commissioned by the mayor) findings and in continuation with what the firefighters have been requesting for years to improve Haverhill public safety, all confirmed by the independent audit. (see more)
04/01/2023
Haverhill Mayor Fiorentini announced today that the Haverhill Fire department will immediately begin transitioning away from a traditional human-based fire department model to a robotic one.
When the city leader was questioned on how these tank-like robots equipped with water cannons would replace all of the duties that a firefighter performs other than fighting fire, duties like; water rescues, fire rescues, motor vehicle accidents, overdoses, hazardous material incidents, shootings, CPR, stabbings, and the everyday picking-grandma-off-the-ground-after-she-fell incident the 2 decade mayor said that “these robots can shoot water at 2,500 gallons per minute, so I’m sure the dozens of highly-paid robot operators now on city payroll will figure it out”. Among many other concerns, when questioned on the cost of the robots, Fiorentini would only say that the devices will cost significantly less than it costs to hire a firefighter for a hundred years. According the the mayor’s and auditor’s office, the cost of a single Haverhill Firefighter over a hundred years costs the city roughly $30 million dollars each whereas “these robots use significantly less consumables like toilet paper that the city has to pay for while human firefighters are on duty”.
The statement today coming only weeks after another lost battle between the local 1011 and the mayor, when union staffing claims where vindicated using a study funded by the mayor intended to prove the firefighters wrong and backfired. Feeling as though that this event is more of a political one than a realistic solution, Haverhill Firefighter Local 1011 President Tim “Tim” Carroll only commented that “this doesn’t make any sense” while looking up momentarily from his union issued iPad which was streaming the popular early-2000s show BattleBots.
The 20 year mayor was also asked whether he had any other innovative ideas for reducing the number of city employees. He would not get into specifics but provided us with photos of prototypes being considered to replace Haverhill police officers and teachers, refusing to clarify which ones would be used where (pictured below).
When pressed for more information regarding this very strange turn of events, the long-time head of the city only kept repeating “I’m just getting started, I’m just getting started, I’m just getting started” over and over again before we were rushed out of his office by a group wearing Cyberdyne badges.
More on this and other Haverhill news and views below…
We agree, the best days do indeed lie ahead.
March 10, 2023
Haverhill Firefighters and the CPSM Study Presentation to City Council – 3/7/2023
Since early 2019, the Haverhill Firefighters have been working with several city leaders to try and improve our working conditions, our safety, and the safety of the public. Many of our concerns were also echoed by Fire Chief O’Brien, the city council, and the public. In 2022, Mayor Fiorentini ordered a study be conducted of the fire department in an attempt to refute firefighter claims that the fire department was not being properly funded, equipped, and staffed. Tuesday night, CPSM presented their findings and here they are in line with what the Haverhill Firefighters Local 1011 have been saying about the Haverhill fire department; that the HFD… (see more)
Haverhill Firefighters Local 1011 President Timothy Carroll Elected as Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts (PFFM) District 4 Vice President
Your Haverhill Firefighters & Local 1011 Executive Board would like to congratulate Haverhill Firefighters Local 1011 President Timothy Carroll for his election to the Professional Fire Firefighters of Massachusetts District 4 Vice President. We trust that he will put in the same effort towards this new role as he did as the long-time leader of our organization. Strong work Tim!
“Today I am thrilled to have been sworn in as the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts (PFFM) 4th District Vice President. I won a highly contested election, thank you to both Joe Brangwynne and Michael Delaney who ran against me. Both of them ran exceptional campaigns, I would like to thank the 4th District for showing up to vote today. I am going to work my ass off for all of you and I will make sure the 4th District’s issues are heard loud and clear. Thank you for your continued support.”
– Timothy Carroll (2/17/2023)
*Photos hyperlinked to respective Facebook post permalink
The actions of a failed mayoral administration, afraid to work on an even playing field.
CPSM Haverhill Fire Department Study,
Delayed Final Report Release & Initial Response
The actions of a failed mayoral administration, afraid to work on an even playing field.
Mayor Fiorentini not only lied to the city council and firefighters but to the citizens he works for. The mayor told the firefighters and the city council that we would be included in the Haverhill Fire Department study and review process. The mayor and his office hid the existence of every draft report he received from the rest of the city leadership, the citizens of Haverhill, and the firefighters this study impacts. The mayor received these initial documents at least 2 months ago, the city council only received a report as of yesterday, the firefighters have still not been given a report by the mayor.
The final draft date on this fire department study was 11 December 2022, we are still working out the details on when the earlier initial draft was received and still hidden by the mayor. Nonetheless, the firefighters got their first look at the study results today, 2/7/2023 more than 8 weeks later. This was done deliberately by Fiorentini.
The firefighters requested the draft study results from the mayor as soon as we knew we it was available early last week and the mayor refused to give Local 1011 Firefighters President Tim Carroll any version, despite past promises. Instead, Mayor Fiorentini gave the study and “summary” rhetoric to Mike LaBella to print, unchallenged. The mayor refusing to send the study of our fire department to the firefighters or city council prior to getting his version to the paper tells you everything you need to know about this administration. The mayor giving the Haverhill Fire Department study with his skewed “summary” rhetoric to Mike LaBella and The Eagle-Tribune printing anything prior talking to the firefighters tells you what you need to know about their publication. Unfortunately, it seems that the Tribune continues to facilitate and enable these unethical actions by a contentious mayor by not pursuing actual journalism. By not reaching out to the city council, or the firefighters about their thoughts on the study while at the same time only caring to receive and print the opinion of a person who has spent their career eroding the fire department forces us to call the paper’s motives into question.
This is a mayor who is afraid of dealing honestly, if this study was his honest pursuit of knowledge regarding Haverhill and our fire department, the firefighters and the city council would have and should have been involved in the process, they were not. Fiorentini purposefully cut everyone else out. The mayor delaying a much-needed staffing increase and calling for a study last year was designed from day 1 to undermine the firefighters and our safety concerns. There is an obvious bias here and you need to know that. Once we’ve had a chance to review the study results ourselves, we’ll let you know.
Faithfully,
Your Haverhill Firefighters Local 1011
Please see the attached statement below (same as above)
