The fire department has four assistant chiefs. The report says two would suffice. There are 32 battalion field chiefs, who average 1.2 fire responses a day. The closing of fire stations should help that. The team that looked at the fire department found other signs of the tail wagging the dog.
Firefighters receive more than nine weeks of leave each year.
Either our firefighters are twice as clumsy or maybe they're twice as likely to claim an injury. But if no one is keeping a rein on this stuff, it gets out of control. We could go on, but you get the idea. O'Malley and his team haven't done nearly enough. James Breiner is publisher of the Baltimore Business Journal.