Burning Threat

Striking firemen in Chicago

The danger was clear, present and ominous: 90% of Chicago's firemen were on strike. How did the nation's second largest city (pop. 3.5 million) cope with the emergency? With ingenuity, a stub born we'11-get-by persistence, a small army of willing, if nastily trained substitutes -- and just plain good luck. At week's end Chicago had survived 17 days of the strike without a major disaster.

The crisis began when the Chicago Fire Fighters Union became locked in an angry, name-calling feud with strong-willed Mayor Jane Byrne. Richard Daley, her predecessor, had kept the firemen content by raising their pay without a contract until the average $22,300-a-year salary was among the highest paid to the nation's firemen. But Byrne resisted demands for a contract that would assign a six-man team to each fire truck (up from the current four or five men), cover supervisors, and include the right to strike.

On Feb. 14, all but some 400 of the city's 4,300 firemen walked off the job, the first such strike in the city's history. They set up picket lines in front of the 120 fire stations and closed down more than half. When the mayor fought back by asking for recruits, 677 signed up for duty, lured by a starting annual salary of $16,524. In addition, the city pressed into service scores of city sanitation workers to help in emergencies. The new people got only two days of instruction before taking their posts at the stations, amid the jeers of the strikers.

Despite the makeshift system, none of the average 150 alarms a day went unanswered. Fire trucks from some closed stations were consolidated with rigs at the open firehouses. Experienced chiefs, captains and other veteran nonstriking firemen supervised each task force. Police sped to the scene of fire alarms, canceling the call if it was false. On the site, the recruits usually hauled hoses while nonstriking veterans entered buildings to do the more dangerous work.

In its crisis, Chicago was helped by other factors. The relatively mild winter weather reduced the number of fires caused by temporary heating arrangements. Arsonists were reluctant to start a fire, police theorize, because under the circumstances any blaze of suspicious origins would attract unusually close scrutiny.

Even the most tragic incident during the strike might not have been averted if all hands had been on duty. When a house just half a block from a closed fire station began to burn, picketing firemen ran to the scene within seconds and helped two police officers lead people to safety. Working firemen from another station arrived within eight minutes. But an explosion sent flames into the top floor and kept rescuers at bay. The bodies of Santana Jackson, 2, and her brother Tommie, 1, were later found in the rubble.

At week's end Mayor Byrne and the firemen's union had not resolved their dispute. The jailing of the union's president, Frank Muscare, for failing to obey a back-to-work order outraged firemen, but most were eager to return to work and the union began to soften its demands. Meanwhile, Chicago was making do. The number of blazes was running slightly below average, and only three people had died from fires in the 17 days, no more than the normal rate. Said one striking fireman of the city's fortunate residents: "Mayor Daley must be looking over them."

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