by WILLIAM MURPHY
The Fire Department improperly ordered drug and alcohol tests for all firefighters in a Harlem firehouse and the results cannot be used to discipline two who tested positive, an arbitrator has ruled. The ruling said the tests were not permissible simply because investigators found bottles of alcohol in a locked locker in the firehouse in January 2004, according to the Uniformed Firefighters Association. The firehouse on Third Avenue houses Engine Co. 53 and Ladder Co. 43. A copy of the arbitrator's decision was not immediately available Friday. In a statement, the Fire Department said it had received the arbitrator's decision and was reviewing it. The union had said the inspection was a "raid" triggered by widespread news reports about a bloody, booze-filled brawl in a Staten Island firehouse two weeks earlier, on New Year's Eve, that left one firefighter in critical condition. The inspection of the Third Avenue firehouse occurred after investigators forced open a lock and found a case of beer and several bottles of liquor in a locker. All the firefighters were tested and two turned up positive. The captains who commanded each unit and the two lieutenants who were on duty at the time were transferred. In a news release on Thursday, the union said the arbitrator's decision was recent. The union statement said the arbitrator had ordered the Fire Department not to use the tests against any firefighters and to remove all records of the test from personnel files. Union President Stephen Cassidy said "the ruling made clear that these tests were conducted without any performance evaluation, complaint of misconduct or any other reasonable suspicion." The department began a program of random drug and alcohol testing in August 2004, but conducted several surprise inspections of other firehouses before that policy took effect. No contraband was found in the other inspections, the department said at the time.
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