SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) A Springfield firefighter
is the first in the state to be fired under a state law prohibiting
firefighters and police officers from smoking, on or off the job.
John S. Marrero, 25, was smoking when a trooper arrested him on July 22
for driving erratically, the Springfield Fire Commission found. He also
faces criminal charges of possession of crack cocaine and Oxycontin and
several motor vehicle violations.
Marrero pleaded innocent, saying he was driving a borrowed car when he
was arrested and did not know there were drugs in the vehicle, the
Union-News of Springfield said.
His criminal trial is scheduled for Feb. 25 in Springfield District
Court, and he is free on personal recognizance. He was fired from the
department Wednesday.
The no-smoking law calls for the firing of any firefighter or police
officer hired after Jan. 1, 1988, who is caught smoking tobacco products
on or off duty.
The law was enacted under a pension reform measure which automatically
presumes that heart ailments for police and firefighters are job-related
disabilities. The accidental disability pension provides for 72 percent of
a police officer or firefighter's final salary, annuity and allowance for
dependents all tax free.
Kevin Garvey, president of Springfield Association of Fire Fighters,
Local 648, said the union will appeal the commission's finding to the
state Civil Service Commission.
Marrero is the first firefighter and second person to be fired for
smoking in Massachusetts. Plymouth Police Officer Lynne M. Rossborough was
fired in 1993 for smoking on the job, said David M. Goggin, spokesman for
Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety.
The Supreme Judicial Court upheld Rossborough's firing in 1997.
The Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, which represents more
than 11,000 firefighters across the state, thinks it is unfair that the
law mandates that firefighters who are caught smoking must be fired, said
Darrell W. Rollins, District 5 vice president of the group.
Firefighters who are caught should be given assistance to help them
kick the habit and then be allowed to return to the job, said Rollins, who
also is a Springfield firefighter and union representative for Springfield
Association of Fire Fighters, Local 648.
