In a show of anger at Mayor Margie Semler in the wake of a fireman's death, the state and city firefighter unions announced Friday they will sue Passaic for failing to maintain staffing levels they consider safe.
     Union and department officials sought to tie firefighters' continuing manpower dispute with the city administration and those of other towns to the recent deaths of a Newark firefighter and particularly Passaic Firefighter Al Tirado, whose widow joined about 70 firefighters from several departments at a news conference in front of city fire headquarters.
     The suit will charge that low manpower contributed to Tirado's death and has imperiled firefighters and residents in general, Fox said. Along with Firefighter Lawrence Dostanko, president of the local branch of the union, Lavin blasted Semler in particular because the department has been unable to staff one of its companies on several days since Tirado's death.
     Beyond that is a much larger dispute over how many men should staff every fire vehicle. Fire unions and the membership of the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit fire safety group, have advocated a minimum standard of four men per vehicle, but most governments have opposed the rule. The deadlock has Passaic firefighters, like those in other departments, saying that even a full shift of three per vehicle is inadequate.

     More information on Al Tirado can be found at the Al Tirado Memorial in the Fallen Brothers section.