Reports of drug use by firefighters raise questions on testing

New Britain probe stirs concern

Many Connecticut fire departments have policies that would have detected early on the apparent onthe-job drug use that had occurred in New Britain, officials say.

“It’s scary,” said Alan Zygmunt, public information officer at the Connecticut Fire Academy. “Anything that undermines the public trust is always a tragedy for the fire service.”

New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart this week released the findings of an administrative investigation that showed the firefighters, most of whom had the rank of driver or lieutenant, used Adderall, cocaine, marijuana, heroin or fentanyl, at least three times while on the job. The probe started after the death of a New Britain firefighter in January at his Southington home from what Stewart said was a suspected overdose.

One lieutenant was fired, and the other seven were demoted, forced to take 30 days of unpaid leave and placed on probation during which they will be subjected to random drug testing — something Stewart said she has been trying to institute department-wide

for years. Stewart said she was told by city police there wasn’t enough evidence to file criminal charges.

Firefighters in many departments in the state undergo drug testing, so substance abuse among crews would be detected, Zygmunt said. One of those departments is Southington, where he worked as a firefighter for 30 years.

Southington firefighters recognized the mutual value of such a policy, he said.

“We understood that it created a benefit for both the firefighters and the administration,” Zygmunt said.

Such a policy would need to be part of the firefighters’ contract, and the New Britain firefighters’ union hasn’t agreed to one yet, Stewart said. Union President Ken Keough could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

But as in New Britain, drug testing isn’t always easy to establish. About 70 percent of Connecticut’s 300 fire departments are volunteer and would likely not be able to perform random drug testing for firefighters who leave their jobs and homes to fight fires, Zygmunt said.

Even some big cities eased up on their drug policies.

New York City loosened its zero-tolerance policy, which was established in the years after 9/11, when drug use increased among firefighters, according to the New York Post.

In March 2004, the number of New York City firefighters and emergency medical service workers who were being treated for alcohol and drug abuse increased 50 percent from the previous year , the New York Times reported.

Firefighters don’t have to experience a terrorist attack to be tempted by illegal drugs.

Connecticut State Police investigators found that in addition to alcohol, a Hartford firefighter who died while battling a house blaze in 2014 tested positive for THC, the main, psychoactive compound in marijuana, according to The Hartford Courant.

And in 2012, an on-duty volunteer firefighter in Manchester was arrested after police said narcotics officers saw him conduct a drug deal in the parking lot of the Main Street fire station.

A former Newtown police sergeant was also sentenced to 16 months in federal prison in 2016 for his role in a steroid distribution ring. A dispatcher who police said was his primary distributor was sentenced to probation. Police said his abuse of the drug began about a decade earlier for body-building.

In Massachusetts, autopsies of two Boston firefighters killed while battling a restaurant blaze in 2007 showed one had a bloodalcohol content more than three times the legal limit and the other had cocaine in his system, the Boston Globe and Boston Herald reported.

Still, alcohol is the most common substance abused by firefighters, according to Frontline Responder Services.

“Access to other drugs is often restricted due to periodic drug tests and the rigors of the job,” the website states. “Perhaps for this reason, alcohol is seen as acceptable by fire culture.”

Although other drugs are less common in firehouses, they are still present, according to Frontline Responder Services. Firefighters who suffer an injury may develop a painkiller habit. Others are prescribed tranquilizers to combat PTSD or anxiety.

“Firefighters take these drugs to help them stay focused and alert during long shifts, but use can quickly spiral out of control and cause harmful side effects,” Mark W. Lamplugh Jr., Frontline Responder Services’ vice president of business development and a former fire captain, stated on the website.

Hearst Connecticut Media file photo After an investigation showed that at least nine New Britain firefighters had used drugs on the job, some have called for strict testing requirements.