Departments are stretched thin because of budget cuts, and people are concerned and even objecting to helping thy neighbor.
"The mutual aid agreement was signed in 2008, not something recent, but something that was signed back in 2008," explained Philadelphia Deputy Mayor, Everett Gillison.
Philadelphia and Camden officials gathered together in front of the Municipal Services Building to refute any notion that this was some new agreement reached to help Camden after a severe budget crunch forced that city to lay off 67 of its firefighters, a third of its department.
"This is nothing new. There was nothing new set forth, no plans or anything," said Camden Fire Chief Michael Harper.
But in a memo obtained by Action News dated February 1st, Camden Chief Michael Harper was telling his department that "no formal policy has been written", and that "we are developing a mutual aid package for extraordinary aid of fire department services." And that "Commissioner (Lloyd Ayers) reached out to us to provide mutual aid services in light of our present circumstances."
"We're prepared. We stay prepared. We train on a regular basis, and we will continue to do so," said Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers.
But almost three years later, Philadelphia fire hoses cannot hook up to fire hydrants in Camden. They are incompatible.
"What we are doing is, we have our technical services persons on both sides of the river making sure that in case of an emergency, we could come over, and we could lend assistance," explained Commissioner Ayers.
"They're still not prepared from what they did three years ago? I'm no rocket scientist, but something seems to be wrong here," said Bill Gault, President of the Philadelphia Firefighters' Union.
The Philadelphia Firefighters' Union Local 22 has been critical of the agreement, contending that Philadelphia cannot afford to send firefighters across the river to help Camden, when it is struggling to meet the needs of its own taxpayers.
"Camden decided to layoff those firefighters and cops. What's next? Are we going to send cops over there? I mean, we have our own problems here that have to be dealt with," said Gault.
Help is being offered only in the event of a catastrophe or emergency. Official reiterated that they were confident that lives in Philadelphia would not be at risk while they were in Camden helping out, because Philadelphia Firefighters were among the best in the country.
