Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Email this article to a friend

Firefighter gets ride to wedding in fire truck

REVERE, Mass. -- Revere residents are upset about what they are calling an inappropriate 'wedding favor.'

A local firefighter made a grand entrance to his wedding ceremony, arriving by way of ladder truck.

The drive was just about nine miles down the road, but many believe this was an unnecessary use of town property.

Fire Chief Gene Doherty defended his decision to allow this piece of equipment to ferry one of his firefighters to the wedding.

"The engine company was out that day for manpower shortage so I took a crew from the ladder truck at the same station and moved them over and used the ladder truck for that period of time," said Chief Gene Doherty, of the Revere Fire Department.

Two volunteers drove the groom and the truck to Nahant. It took just about an hour and a half to get the job done.

"I look at it with a jaundiced eye. We do things for other situations whether its parades and he does a lot of volunteer work. It was my way of rewarding him for the great work that he does," Doherty said.

Mayor Thomas Ambrosio does not seem to agree.

After learning about it from 7News he issued a statement saying, "The chief showed very poor judgment in this incident. I will be weighing disciplinary action."

He said whatever the action, it will be minor.

The difference of opinions about personal use of city equipment is as varied as the people who live here.

"It's city equipment. It should be used for fires only, not for weddings, personal things," said one resident.

"I don't think there's a problem if he's from Revere, lived here all his life. It's part of our history to do things like this, just like all the firemen are out there saluting when one of their own dies," said another resident.

The firefighter paid for the gas for the truck out of his own pocket.

When asked if he would allow this to happen again, the chief said it would depend on the individual and if the stars are aligned properly, but he would probably talk to the mayor first.

(Copyright (c) 2009 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)