For public safety, make fire report public

There is no good reason for Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone to keep secret a report assessing what went right and what went wrong during the response to the Ridge-Manorville wildfire in April.

Volunteer firefighters worked hard to keep the blaze from spreading. But, according to officials who have read the report, there were significant issues along the way.

Some units ignored command procedures and stymied access to hot spots for other crews, response from others was slowed by incompatible radio frequencies and a few crews blocked access for on-duty units by leaving cars parked on access roads.

Some of what is said to be in the report is as frightening as it is disturbing: Three injured Manorville firefighters had to use cellphones rather than radios, to report their situation. And when they lost contact, the firefighters had to walk for two hours after they were forced, by sudden wind and fire, to abandon their brush truck and flee.

The report also is said to detail instances where incident commanders at two separate locations couldn't talk to each other -- because there was so much chatter on the line and because some departments were using incompatible frequencies.

What are the solutions? Some officials who read the report recommended more training for volunteer firefighters. This, in a county where Bellone, under pressure to cut a cumulative three-year half-billion dollar deficit, has cut basic firefighting classes at Suffolk's fire academy.

Are there other solutions? Dedicated radio frequencies? Better equipment? Or maybe even placing overall responsibility for the pine barrens -- which is splintered among a legion of municipalities and other agencies -- under one entity?

Making the report secret hampers such deliberations. It also, ironically, hampers taxpayers' ability to get behind any solution.

And there must be solutions. Fighting wildfires is hard work. But the issues raised by those who have seen the report open the door to other concerns.

What would happen in case of a major disaster on Long Island? Could emergency workers -- and the residents they protect -- be left incommunicado and to fend for themselves because of conflicting radio frequencies?

Bellone's decision not to release the report makes no sense, especially since much of it was outed in Sunday's Newsday.

In the Sunday article, a spokesman said of the report, "It is confidential communication between public officers and public officials providing opinions to assist in a deliberative process."

Huh?!? Why can't the public be a part of the process involving public officers and public officials?

On Monday, the Bellone administration released a statement further explaining its decision, saying that the report won't be released because of a request from the county's Department of Fire Rescue and Emergency Services.

"The FRES commissioner with 46 years of first responder experience believes that in order to protect the integrity of the after-action review process and continue to have honest, frank and open discussions about what worked well and what needs to be improved, public dissemination of the document would compromise the process," the statement said.

OK. But the Long Island Power Authority made public its post-Tropical Storm Irene successes and foul-ups; the Long Island Rail Road did the same after a weather-related system shutdown. Everything was aired, warts and all; and the public could judge how well the issues were resolved.

Why shouldn't a municipality do the same, especially in matters related to public and property safety?

Mr. Bellone?