Panel backs trimming arson squad to save firefighter jobs

Published Oct. 29, 2009 at 1:47 p.m.
A Milwaukee Common Council committee voted Thursday to kill the Fire Department's fledgling arson squad and use the money to keep more firefighters on the street.But the council's Finance & Personnel Committee turned back other efforts to maintain current levels of firefighter staffing.Acting on amendments to the 2010 city budget, the finance panel recommended eliminating two of the three arson investigators. They would be shifted back into firefighting, to ease some - but far from all - of the cut Mayor Tom Barrett recommended in the overtime pay used to fill in for sick or vacationing firefighters. The overtime cut was projected to knock one or two firefighting companies out of service each day, on a rotating basis.


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