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He pledges to punish racism; improve diversity, technology
By FRAN SPIELMAN
The Chicago Sun-Times
Mayor Daley’s choice to replace retiring Fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter breezed through a City Council committee Wednesday after promising to embrace technology, improve diversity and crack the whip whenever racial intolerance rears its ugly head.
Black aldermen were concerned when Ray Orozco Jr. was chosen to replace Trotter, the first African American to lead a Chicago Fire Department with a documented history of discrimination.
They feared a retreat from the slow but steady march toward diversity and a return to the days when racist transmissions filled the airwaves of fire radio.
On Wednesday, Orozco used his City Council confirmation hearing to put those fears to rest.
“To the small minority who may wish, hope or think things will return to the way things were many years ago, be forewarned: I will have zero tolerance for any conduct or attitude that will negate the progress of this department. For those who think these are just words, understand that I will not hesitate to act quickly, decisively to assert the position I am taking,” he said.
Before retiring to become Chicago’s first-ever chief emergency officer, Trotter wrapped his arms around technology. He increased training and revamped the way the department responds to high-rise fires.
Orozco promised to follow Trotter’s lead. He’s even pursuing one of his predecessor’s unfulfilled high-tech goals: a “personal locator” system to track firefighters at a disaster scene. The new commissioner is also talking about increasing the number of advanced life support, or ALS, engines and finalizing, possibly this week, a stalled contract for protective clothing known as “bunker gear.”
“I understand the risks they take. . . . I’ve been burned myself. I’ve visited many of my colleagues in burn units. . . . I’m fully committed to bunker gear,” he said.
Beavers: Use fear of 8-hour shift
Aldermen tired of waiting for diversity in a department that remains 67.7 percent white, 20.1 black, 10.4 percent Hispanic and under six percent female reacted to Orozco’s promise with arms folded.
Ald. William Beavers (7th) said he still believes an eight-hour shift would solve problems created by firefighters with “too much time on their hands” who sit around firehouses with “nothing to do but create problems among themselves.” Firefighters treasure their ability to work 24 hours on and 48 hours off because it gives them the freedom to hold second jobs. An eight-hour shift is “the only thing they fear,” the alderman said.
Diversity wasn’t the only issue raised during Wednesday’s hearing. Ald. Ginger Rugai (19th) urged Orozco to follow through on Trotter’s dream of building a new fire academy “with all of the bells and whistles.”
And she wants the new boss to tap into the same private sector pipeline he used to get the $1.2 million needed to purchase 120 thermal-imaging cameras to increase the number of ambulances.
For all the talk about technology and a new digital radio system on the way, Orozco said public education remains the most effective way to reduce fire deaths. It’s one of his top priorities.
“We have to get the message to the public — especially about smoke detectors. . . . It’s very frustrating when you go to a fire or hear about a fire where people are dying and there’s one common thread: lack of a smoke detector or lack of a working smoke detector,” he said.