# Picture This: Firefighter Washes Boat At Work



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Cops are not the only ones getting their pics taken.

Boston Firefighter Photographed Washing Boat Inside Firehouse

The taxpayers who pay their salaries probably can't do it, but Boston firefighters are apparently allowed to take their boats to work and wash them using department facilities.

A Brighton resident who was out walking his dog this week said he saw a Boston firefighter washing his boat inside a city firehouse. He took a picture that he sent to Team 5 Investigates.

"He was on the top of the boat, a blue motorboat. I know the fire department color is red," said the man, who wished to remain anonymous.

"Taking your boat to work and then washing it? It's just wrong. You're there to work," he said.

*Click To Comment*

A Boston Fire Department spokesman would not identify the firefighter, but confirmed he was on duty and it was his personal boat.

Picture This: Firefighter Washes Boat At Work - Boston News Story - WCVB Boston


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## Deuce (Sep 27, 2003)

Ok, lemme get this straight; grilling, sleeping, watching tv, working out, washing their POVs, parking in a fire lane and grocery shopping and general malingering is permissible, but washing your boat is not.. check....

Well folks, even the heroes are getting it from the sheeple. Remember this the next time you're asked to risk your safety for some asshole that's ready to castrate you at the drop of a hat... 

Take it slow people.. Nice and slow....


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## Boston Irish Lass (Feb 13, 2009)

I personally don't have an issue with this. Regardless of what he's doing, the reality is that he is there and ready to go to work should the need arise. People should mind their own business. That this jackoff felt the need to get a news team out there is ridiculous. God help him when it's HIS house burning down. He'll wish to Christ that this firemen was awake and ready to go.


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## Goose (Dec 1, 2004)

Great, now we're going to read stories about firefighters dressed up in SCBA gear painting their boats red in the bays of the firehouse.


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## GeepNutt (Aug 10, 2005)

I wonder if "Mr. Anonymous" ever surfed the web or sent a personal e-mail at his place of employment??? :whatchutalkingabout


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## HistoryHound (Aug 30, 2008)

kwflatbed said:


> "He was on the top of the boat, a blue motorboat. I know the fire department color is red," said the man, who wished to remain anonymous.


He's a sharp one alright. You can't get anything past this guy. I guess the moral of this story is firefighters should buy red boats & police officers should buy blue boats. That way when you use department resources to wash your boat on department time passersby will assume it's a department issued boat & not care.


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## vtdeputy (May 24, 2010)

To hell with the news story, i wanna know what they're paid!!!


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## trueblue (Jan 21, 2008)

Funny though isn't it...if a person was drowning down the street in the Charles River and the BFD needed a boat, the same FF .would be told he was in trouble for NOT bringing his own boat to the rescue. Firefighters welcome to the POLICE world. Sorry, you are no longer loved by everyone so get use to it


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## fra444 (Nov 23, 2008)

You guys DO realize this is buckethead bashing time right?!?!?! WTF PEOPLE!!!! Get with it!

The man just got a double didget raise and is using the city water and getting paid to wash a boat I cant afford!! SCREW HIM!!!! I dont see Deval cutting their staff!

Its about time the public started focusing on the huge wastes that go on over at the FD!!!!


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## CPT Chaos (Mar 1, 2006)

I grew up behind a Fire Station. The guys were always working on thier cars.

SO WHAT! You can only do so much maintenance on the Fire Truck and clean the Fire Station.


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## Bloodhound (May 20, 2010)

fra444 said:


> You guys DO realize this is buckethead bashing time right?!?!?! WTF PEOPLE!!!! Get with it!


I'm usually up for some Ding-Ding bashing but the fact this is a "story" is pretty ridiculous.


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## MetrowestPD (Oct 21, 2008)

I'm going to agree that cleaning the boat is really not a big deal, BUT has this FF been in a cave. The media and citizens are looking for an excuse to trash all public safety employees and especially the BFD after the contract issues. Close the door and block the window and you wouldn't have this kind of scrutiny. 

REMEMBER THERE ARE THOSE ASSHATS THAT GO AROUND JUST TRYING TO STIR UP SHIT JUST SO THEY CAN RECORD YOU. BE SAFE AND BE AWARE.

Now for the bashing: What the media didn't report is that the FF is also a deputy sheriff and the boat was for patrolling the waters around the prisons, hence the color blue.


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## Hater (May 21, 2010)

They have to do something to pass the time now that they can't get high on the job anymore.


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## mpd61 (Aug 7, 2002)

MetrowestPD said:


> Close the door and block the window and you wouldn't have this kind of scrutiny.


Eggszactly!!!!

Whenever I tune up someone that I am "interviewing" I usually do it in a room with closed door and no windows!
:wavespin:


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2010)

I "polished my boat" at work last night. Thank God the Herald didn't catch me....:wavespin:


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## Mozzarella (Apr 8, 2006)

My boats are neither blue or red, its shit brown. Hope it does not reflect the direction my career is going...


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## HistoryHound (Aug 30, 2008)

Mozzarella said:


> My boats are neither blue or red, its shit brown. Hope it does not reflect the direction my career is going...


So, you can wash it work. Just get a job at UPS :teeth_smile: As the "concerned citizen" pointed out red = fireman which means brown = UPSman.


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## frapmpd24 (Sep 3, 2004)

Deuce said:


> Ok, lemme get this straight; grilling, sleeping, watching tv, working out, washing their POVs, parking in a fire lane and grocery shopping and general malingering is permissible, but washing your boat is not.. check....
> 
> Well folks, even the heroes are getting it from the sheeple. Remember this the next time you're asked to risk your safety for some asshole that's ready to castrate you at the drop of a hat...
> 
> Take it slow people.. Nice and slow....


Deuce... I love it! You couldn't have been any more on point with the list of things that firefighters can do, with impunity too!!!

Instead of having doors with glass panels in every frame to show off the large funny looking amblances with water and hose (let's face it, they go to more medicals with the ambulance than fires), maybe they should have a conventional garage door. Consider a door with no windows or just the ones way up along the top for a some privacy.

As far as the lemming that took the photo... if people would seriously just mind their own business, life would be so much better, even if it meant a slower shift. I am sure he/she has plenty in their own life to fix and worry about than a boat getting washed. People call on everything from their neighbors campfire to a few leaves going over the property line when raking. A bunch of overgrown tattle-tales.

Also, has the moron who send his earth shattering photo to the news ever been to the North End and walked by the firefighters on Hanover Street all sitting out enjoying the scenary... I mean... festive atmosphere. Must take some hefty donations resent: for a successful bid to that station.

As was said before, if there was a drowning call, that boat would be pressed in to service to save time until another unit was paged out from across the city, no doubt.

These people, who work 8 hours a day straight with no wasted time for smoke breaks or emails that screw their company out of money, just think they are in their own special category...


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## WaterPistola (Nov 4, 2007)

SniperGAF said:


> I "polished my boat" at work last night. Thank God the Herald didn't catch me....:wavespin:


Is that what you call it these days?


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## arff_dog (Apr 14, 2009)

Hmm reminds me years ago as a volunteer firefighter a memo came down from the Chief that we could no longer wash our personal cars at the fire station because someone from the town complained. 

Mind you we were volunteers . . . they were concerned about the cost of water? 

During some of our trainings we would flow thousands and thousands of gallons of water, yet whoever complained was concerned about the 10 gallons used by washing a car. 

Forget the fact that we got out of bed at 3am to get beat up and eat smoke at fires that'll we'll probably end up with cancer from years from now, without getting a dime. (kind of stupid now that I look back on it haha)

Anyways that was my introduction to the general publics appreciation of PD/FD. I don't even want a 'thank you' from people, I just wish they would shut up and let us do our jobs . . .


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## Guest (Jun 19, 2010)

Welcome FireFighters to the we hate public employees club. :wavespin:


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## TRPDiesel (Nov 28, 2008)

Ignorant people, Maybe he bought the boat from a New York Ding Ding as they use Blue lights for the FD....


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## rg1283 (Sep 14, 2005)

Or CT which also has Blue Lights for Fire Apparatus.


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## TRPDiesel (Nov 28, 2008)

I learn something new everyday.....


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## pahapoika (Nov 5, 2006)

Mr.Anonymous aka tommy menino ?

yup, we're working and the yuppies aren't.

not that they would take a lowly civil servant job anyways.

their just whiny bitches by nature !


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## rg1283 (Sep 14, 2005)

I can't stand Tommy Menino. Some of the nursing homes are represented by the SEIU who doesn't like Deval Patrick but LOVES Obama and Menino. Its like a personal newspaper for Obama and Menino.


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## DEI8 (Jan 20, 2006)

SniperGAF said:


> I "polished my boat" at work last night. Thank God the Herald didn't catch me....:wavespin:


 I believe you should have said dingy.


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## WaterPistola (Nov 4, 2007)

I love the residents of Brighton...more worried about a FF washing his boat, while there are multiple stabbings occurring literally down the next block...:stomp:


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## fra444 (Nov 23, 2008)

Fireman are idiot lazy bastards and this one should be suspended for his waste of city time!!!! Did I suddenly log on to FireMans.com?!?!?! WTF?! Those guys love it and completely eat it up when we get our testicles handed to us and yet we aren't smart enough to enjoy it when they get a bit of their own medicine?!?!


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## Foxy85 (Mar 29, 2006)

Firefighting for the most part is a reactive job. As long as hes at the fire house ready to respond, I'm happy with that. Cooking Chili, washing a boat, racticing putting his gear, sleeping, whatever they do I could care less. AS someone said, do you want them driving the fire trucks around looking for code violations? Give them a break.

FRA, its fun to knock them, but eh, I couldn't care less what they do in their house. As long as hes running into burning buildings, they can wash their boats all they want.:smug: just my .02


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## OfficerObie59 (Sep 14, 2007)

No matter what any of us do, we're gonna get bashed. If the firefighters were diving around on routine patrol in their fire trucks, they're gonna get shit on for using too much fuel. 

Hell, if the guy too a picture of him sleeping at 11pm instead of washing his boat, I'm sure there'd be calls for an investgation as to why there are beds in the firehouse.

I think it funny "Mr. Annonymous" got outed in one of the comment sections.


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## Roy Fehler (Jun 15, 2010)

Foxy85 said:


> AS someone said, do you want them driving the fire trucks around looking for code violations?


Work 8 hour shifts and take the beds out of the firehouses. You can't tell me that after being woken up by an obnoxious horn at 3am after being sound asleep in a real bed for 4-5 hours, that a fireman is going to be 100% alert, never mind the time wasted by jumping out of bed, getting dressed, sliding down the pole, etc.


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## SinePari (Aug 15, 2004)

After the last few years of police bashing we've been told to stand tall on details and justify the Quinn Bill for those who still have it. If they got a huge pay bump shown on the national news every day, they're obviously too damn stupid to run silent, run deep. Fuck them.


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## fra444 (Nov 23, 2008)

Foxy its not fun to bash them its the fact that most of them think they are so far above us they have nothing good to say about us! Roy and Sini are absolutely correct in their posts! 

Lets put it this way, if this were a job in the private industry the man would have already been FIRED!! With the huge raise he just got when other people are loosing their jobs, to get paid for washing your own boat is just over the top and going to piss people off unnecessarily!!


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## arff_dog (Apr 14, 2009)

Roy Fehler said:


> Work 8 hour shifts and take the beds out of the firehouses. You can't tell me that after being woken up by an obnoxious horn at 3am after being sound asleep in a real bed for 4-5 hours, that a fireman is going to be 100% alert, never mind the time wasted by jumping out of bed, getting dressed, sliding down the pole, etc.


If firefighters worked 40 hour weeks that might make work. But as most of you know firefighters usually work 50+ hour weeks. The reason is the Fair Labor Standards Act says that if your a firefighter then you do not have to be paid overtime until you work over 53 hours in one week.

Not to mention doing that would create a ton of overtime. When the afternoon crew shows up to work and the rescue is out on a run then you've got guys sitting in the station with no rig getting paid and the guys out on the rescue who are now working past their normal shift getting paid.


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## arff_dog (Apr 14, 2009)

But I guess I should add that washing your boat is a bit over the top. 

In reality its not harming anything in terms of response or public safety. But like people have said before its all about public perception.


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## 263FPD (Oct 29, 2004)

Personally, I do not care what they wash on duty. It's a reactive job. We get along rather well with our FD, so I seldom if ever, bash those guys.


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## SinePari (Aug 15, 2004)

arff_dog said:


> Not to mention doing that would create a ton of overtime. When the afternoon crew shows up to work and the rescue is out on a run then you've got guys sitting in the station with no rig getting paid and the guys out on the rescue who are now working past their normal shift getting paid.


That's no different if your entire police shift is at a bloody bar fight, a fatal crash, or a tracking someone in the woods with a K-9. The next shift is waiting around the station for the pool cars to come back for shift change over...especially if you're a small town with one or two cruisers. I guess they could detail their pickups or fire up the grill while they're waiting...just like the ding-dings.


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Here is another FD story for your pleasure.

*Firefighter Gets Paid During Secret Jail Stay*

*Man Used Vacation, Personal Time To Cover Incarceration *

*BOSTON -- *A Haverhill firefighter who was jailed in New Hampshire for four months this year on a driving charge, continued to collect his paycheck by keeping the incarceration secret. 
Kevin Thompson, 52, was in jail from Jan. 28 until May 27 after pleading guilty to driving after suspension of his license, Rockingham, N.H., County Department of Corrections Superintendent Albert Wright told the Eagle Tribune. 
New Hampshire officials said Thompson has not had a driver's license in that state since 1992, when he was labeled a habitual offender after various driving violations. He lost his Massachusetts license in 1987 for failing to pay excise tax, according to the registry. 
Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini told the paper that an investigation is under way into whether Thompson or anyone else broke laws or city rules by covering the shift and keeping the incarceration secret from the fire chief and other city officials.

Firefighter Gets Paid During Secret Jail Stay - Boston News Story - WCVB Boston


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## fra444 (Nov 23, 2008)

arff_dog said:


> If firefighters worked 40 hour weeks that might make work. But as most of you know firefighters usually work 50+ hour weeks. The reason is the Fair Labor Standards Act says that if your a firefighter then you do not have to be paid overtime until you work over 53 hours in one week.
> 
> Not to mention doing that would create a ton of overtime. When the afternoon crew shows up to work and the rescue is out on a run then you've got guys sitting in the station with no rig getting paid and the guys out on the rescue who are now working past their normal shift getting paid.


Obviously your either in a small town or not in Ma at all. Here most of the cities dont even run the rescue. In my city they drive out to the scene with their own vehicle and trade off. They also get overtime after *40 hours!!!*


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## Edmizer1 (Aug 27, 2006)

This country has a love affair with firefighters. In my town, the PD responds to most medical calls and we usually arrive before the FD ambulance. Sometimes their response is delayed for one reason or another. I can't count how many times people have been downright nasty to us about the response time of the FD while we were waiting for the ambulance. Its like some how its the fault of the police that the ambulance hadn't arrived yet. As soon as the FD arrives, they are welcomed with open arms and "thanks" about their service. It is socially acceptable to talk that way to a cop but not to a fireman.


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## BPD142 (May 22, 2002)

hows this?: FD has brand new $8 mil station, our if falling in on our heads.
FF1-Base pay=$63,123, OT=$59,172
FF2-Base pay=$58,679, OT=$54,224
FF3-Base pay=$43,534, OT=448,474
Just a couple examples in our small town and they all have side businesses in their off time. People wonder why there is animosity between police/fire, well this is a prime example of why. Then the town asks us if we have any ideas on how to "save" money while our fleet of 4 cars has 2 in the shop and one has 200K miles!!! Screw the heroes, welcome to our world bitches


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## HistoryHound (Aug 30, 2008)

kwflatbed said:


> Here is another FD story for your pleasure.
> 
> *Firefighter Gets Paid During Secret Jail Stay*
> 
> ...


How can keep his job without a driver's license? Does anyone here believe that he is never in a position to drive a city vehicle?

As for the FD in my town, I know I'm nice & safe (sarcasm). My firefighter neighbor has weekly union meetings at his house. At least once a week, there are 4-5 FD sedans & suv's parked in front of his house for 2-3 hours usually around lunch time. I'm sure the timing is coincidence & that they're discussing important business. Now, I know that most firemen in my town are decent guys. My father-in-law was one. My problem is with the entitled people that they've hired in the past few years. People like my neighbor who only got the job because he fit a certain category. This guy likes to put his FD shirt on (with shorts or jeans) on his day off to go out & pick up coffee or take out food. Hmmmmm, wonder why? Couldn't have anything to do with some places giving discouts? Could it? There are a few others I could mention, but I'll stop there.


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## 263FPD (Oct 29, 2004)

Look, I know it's not a popular opinion, but here goes.

Our local citizery bashes police, they bash the fire department, and they bash anything that is local government and services. I am all set with bashing other services. I refuse to do it. There is enough of this shit coming at us from all directions, there shouldn't be any of it coming from within.

This is my .02 worth.


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## Johnny Law (Aug 8, 2008)

fra444 said:


> You guys DO realize this is buckethead bashing time right?!?!?! WTF PEOPLE!!!! Get with it!
> 
> The man just got a double didget raise and is using the city water and getting paid to wash a boat I cant afford!! SCREW HIM!!!! I dont see Deval cutting their staff!
> 
> Its about time the public started focusing on the huge wastes that go on over at the FD!!!!


 Fuck yeah bro, I'm with ya!


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## fra444 (Nov 23, 2008)

263FPD said:


> Look, I know it's not a popular opinion, but here goes.
> 
> Our local citizery bashes police, they bash the fire department, and they bash anything that is local government and services. I am all set with bashing other services. I refuse to do it. There is enough of this shit coming at us from all directions, there shouldn't be any of it coming from within.
> 
> This is my .02 worth.


Well I'm guessing that you havent been there at 3 AM when they are BITCHING because they were taken out of bed for something, and I quote, "This fucking small"!! That was after we drove to the scene, found out everyone was ok, drove to the station to find out they had already left, AND STILL MADE IT BACK THERE BEFORE THEM!!!!!!! And before you ask we were only driving a max of 30 mph at any time.


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## 263FPD (Oct 29, 2004)

fra444 said:


> Well I'm guessing that you havent been there at 3 AM when they are BITCHING because they were taken out of bed for something, and I quote, "This fucking small"!! That was after we drove to the scene, found out everyone was ok, drove to the station to find out they had already left, AND STILL MADE IT BACK THERE BEFORE THEM!!!!!!! And before you ask we were only driving a max of 30 mph at any time.


 I am not second guessing you by any means, but my experience with our FD is quite different. They are pretty good to us and have taken care of me on my IOD's several times. If you read our local rag, the comments from the "Penis galery" are just as bad when it comes to FD as they are when it comes to us. I will not give the John Q. Public the satisfaction by adding fuel to the flame.

The comments in the local paper are completely out of control. I have no illusion that the public loves us. I know it's quite the opposite. What kills me is that same people who bash the living shit out of us, were posting such supportive comments a year ago when one of our own was almost killed. Three months after that,it's business as usual to them.

Over the years I have watched as these people we serve, kick us in the balls regardless of weather we are Pd or FD. They are angry as fuck that our unions fight for what is ours. Today, it's a fire fighter washing his boat, tomorrow it's one of us taking a lunch break.

No one here ever ran an errant during their shift? I know I have once or twice. May b a quick one, not like I stopped at home and cut my grass, but still...


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## jedediah1 (Jun 18, 2009)

i think this says it all (thank you google)

i hate firefighters
About 816,000 results (0.25 seconds)

i love firefighters
About 3,410,000 results (0.26 seconds)

i hate police
About 23,800,000 results (0.28 seconds)

*i love police*
*About 84,500,000 results (0.22 seconds)
*


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## Foxy85 (Mar 29, 2006)

so your saying that roughly 33% of people on google hate us? :tongue:


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