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FDNY Chief of Department Sal Cassano picked the wrong time to hit back at the firefighter unions that have harshly criticized him and Fire Commissioner Nick Scoppetta when he alluded to the dispute during last week's 100th FDNY Memorial Service.
A department spokesman played down Chief Cassano's remarks while also contending they were an appropriate response to those made by union officials the previous day. When it was pointed out that the unions did not sound off during a ceremony commemorating firefighters who died in the line of duty, he retorted that their press conference ensured that the complaints would be in the papers on the morning of the memorial.
That's not the same thing, however, and Chief Cassano knows it. One union president not involved in the bitter feud, Tom Eppinger of the Emergency Medical Service officers' union, said the remarks by the Fire Department's top uniformed officer produced a "weird" and "uncomfortable" mood.
Chief Cassano undoubtedly believes he and Mr. Scoppetta have been unfairly attacked by the unions in connection with the Deutsche Bank fire where two Firefighters were killed. But the department memorial service was not the place to vent those emotions.
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