Fire Chief Accused of Telling Volunteers to Damage Career Firefighter’s Home

Posted by: Curt Varone May 26, 2016 4 Comments

A contentious restructuring of a combination fire department in New York that has already led to one lawsuit, just took a shocking turn as career firefighters accuse the volunteer fire chief of telling volunteers to break all the windows in the house of a career firefighter if it has a fire.

The controversy began several weeks ago when the Village of Port Chester made a decision to eliminate its eight career personnel. That prompted a suit by a neighboring community, the Village of Rye Brook, who claimed that Port Chester would be breaching a fire services contract between the two villages that requires career personnel.

As that suit plays itself out in New York Supreme Court, new allegations surfaced about remarks reportedly made by Port Chester Volunteer Fire Chief Edward Quinn that encouraged his firefighters to break all the windows at the home of a career firefighter from Harrison if it had a fire.

News 12 was given an audio recording of the chief’s comments, that reportedly includes the statement: “I hope we go there tonight and you guys better break every [expletive] window in the place.”

The career personnel are demanding his termination.

Here is more on the story including a video I was not able to embed.

About Curt Varone

Curt Varone has over 45 years of fire service experience and 35 as a practicing attorney licensed in both Rhode Island and Maine. His background includes 29 years as a career firefighter in Providence (retiring as a Deputy Assistant Chief), as well as volunteer and paid on call experience. He is the author of two books: Legal Considerations for Fire and Emergency Services, (2006, 2nd ed. 2011, 3rd ed. 2014, 4th ed. 2022) and Fire Officer's Legal Handbook (2007), and is a contributing editor for Firehouse Magazine writing the Fire Law column.
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