Are firefighters the new Big Brother?

Eileen Sullivan

associated press writer

Firefighters in major cities are being trained to take on a new role as lookouts for terrorism, raising concerns of eroding their standing as trusted American icons and infringing on people’s privacy.

Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel need no warrants to enter hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, which puts them in position to spot behavior that could indicate terror activity or planning of terrorist attacks.

There are fears, however, that they could lose the faith of a skeptical public by becoming the eyes of the government, looking for suspicious items like building blueprints, bomb-making manuals or materials.

Since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Americans have surrendered some privacy rights in an effort to prevent future strikes. The government monitors telephone calls and e-mails. People who fly have their belongings searched before boarding and are limited in what they can carry. And some people have trouble traveling because their names are similar to those on terrorist watch lists.

The American Civil Liberties Union says using firefighters to gather intelligence is another step in that direction. Mike German, a former FBI agent who now is national security policy counsel to the ACLU, said the concept is dangerously close to the Bush administration’s 2002 proposal to have workers with access to private homes, such as postal carriers and telephone repairmen, report suspicious behavior to the FBI.

“Americans universally abhorred that idea,” German commented about problems that may occur with the program.

The Homeland Security Department is testing a program with the New York City fire department to share intelligence information so firefighters are better prepared when they respond to emergency calls. Homeland Security also trains the New York City fire service how to identify material or behavior that may indicate terrorist activities. If it is successful, the government intends to expand the program to other major metropolitan areas.

As part of the program, which started last December, Homeland Security gave secret clearances to nine New York fire chiefs to start the program, according to reports obtained by The Associated Press.

“They’re really doing technical inspections, and if perchance they find something like, you know, a bunch of RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) rounds in somebody’s basement, I think it’s a no-brainer,” said Jack Tomarchio, a senior official in Homeland Security’s intelligence division. “The police ought to know about that, the fire service ought to know about that, and potentially maybe somebody in the intelligence community should know about that.”

When going to private residences, for example, they are told to be alert for a person who is hostile, uncooperative or expressing hate or discontent with the United States, unusual chemicals or other materials that seem out of place, ammunition, firearms or weapons boxes, surveillance equipment, still and video cameras, night-vision goggles, maps, photos, blueprints, police manuals, training manuals, flight manuals, and little or no furniture other than a bed or mattress.

“We’re there to help people, and by discovering these type of events, we’re helping people,” said New York City Fire Chief Salvatore Cassano. “There are many things that firefighters do that other law enforcement or other agents aren’t able to do.” He added, “A normal person that doesn’t have this training wouldn’t be looking for it.”

Cassano would not discuss specifics, but he said some terror-related information has been passed along to law enforcement since firefighters and officers began the training three years ago.

“They’ve had some hits,” Cassano said. “It’s working.”

If an ambulance team should show up at a house and see detailed maps of the district’s public transit system on the wall, that is something the EMS provider would pass along, he said.

“It’s the evolution of the fire service,” said Bob Khan, the fire chief in Phoenix, which has created an information-sharing arrangement between the fire service and law enforcement through terrorism liaison officers.

It’s of particular concern for communities already under law enforcement scrutiny. “Do we want them to fear the fire department as well as the police?” German asked.

The Detroit, Mich. area, which has one of the largest concentrations of Arab-Americans in the country, does not conduct this type of intelligence training, nor does it plan to.

“That’s a touchy area,” said Detroit’s deputy fire commissioner, Seth Doyle.

Detroit firefighters receive training about hazardous materials, but not the details New York and D.C. firefighters are now on the lookout for.

A structural diagram of the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, materials and literature to make a bomb and a bomb prototype are things firefighters should pay attention to, Doyle said. But the bridge diagram by itself might not be enough.

“I don’t want our folks to be put in a position where they’re reporting something that creates a situation where there was really no real problem in the first place,” Doyle said.