Tobacco Documents Online

, t W .~ Ll2J L Lt~~~ . "~ ~~: ~'~.~e ~~R 1~ 1 ~: n..~a W t:/ : By Eduardo Cue • R-asl:: _: on Post Y:riter • . Smokers who .~: ould like to join the Alexandria Fire Dcparttnent as fire faghters had better make a\en• Year's resolut:ca to quit puffing. The departm.ent, in a re-.llatiou that may be the first of its ki:<d in the r.ation, is requiring- as a condition of emplo,-:r:cnt that new fire fighters sign papers plc,_!.in3 they willl not smoke on or off duty. - Alexandria Fire Chief Charles Rule eeplained that under Vir.-inia's Hear: and Lung Act fire tual suicidall death," Chief Rule said yesterday. The chief emphasized that he is not trying to impose his personal beliefs on am one--hc was a pipe smoker for 23 ycars until he c;u'st last July. He and other Alexandria of:`iciat; Eaid they were trying to protect the firefi,;hter' health and save -the city money. Alexandria personnel director poife E. Sc hroe- der said that in the last three years the majority of disability cases in the'city h_%-e becn due to heart and lung diseases and tia: this hcs cost the city an additional $1N,C00 in pension ber.ef:ts. fighters who suffer from pulmonary diseascs or Spokesman for the Fairfax County and District heart attack are presumed to be incapaciated 'of Columbia fire departments sa:3 yesterday their as a result of their job and can thus retire with an extra large pension. "It's a known fact that s-nokino is hazardous to your health, so why shoa'd we subsidize the deterioration of the heart and lun.'s and even- departments were studying the Alexandria reg- ulation with an eye to impleir.ent?n.a a similar rule. But .lIontoomery and Prince Gcorgcs County -see S3IOI:ERS, E?, Col. 3 o I ~ ~-rr 1 ~~ a [~~~ ' l J 1 ~J 1~1`~ 1 'V~~1'G`l1'J v! QJ ~' ~J li S-M0,:L1:S, Fro.n E1 fire officials said '-hey had no plans to impose such re>=ictions. . Sgt. Kenneth Jones of the Fairfax County Fire Dep ~-t.^.icnt said he re- cently completed a renort on the de- partment's physical fitness Y-ogam and added that aa Alesancy:a-style smoking ban is "under consc :ction and review." ~ Alexandria's Ci:ief Rule said this was an anpropria'e time to :__ue the smoking regulatioz because the dc- partmer.t has bce7: in the prccess of revic,.cin~ its mcdical stanc':ar;_ and is in the process of hirino 12 new fire fi;hters. The ch'.e: said 10 fire fighters had b^~un v:orl: on `.:~,nday and all had a_rc~d to si^z t`~ _;apcrs stating t'.:,~y %,.ou'.d not s:-:o?:e. Of the 10, ho.:e:er, onl:: '.':cltael Webster, 22, was a s:no'.-:er. 1: eSster said yesterdny that he had to beconce a fire fi ::,er since he v.as 10 years o'.d and did not mind up smo.l-in.- to achie:e his goal. He said he snlol:^ I a p: r=: of ci~arc'-tcs a day w before lie quit Nov. 30 and had often tried to quit smolcing before. "It's, ooino pretty oood," he said of his latest attempt. "I haven't touched a cioarctte yet. Ciose, but not yet," he added. - Webster said he docs not believe the fire department is infringing on his personal rights by forbidding him to smoke, but he also admitted that if he n•ar„ed to he could probably det, away with smoking off duty. " The - constitutionality of the new re,,u'.atioz is uppermost on the minds of Alesanur ia officials, but they say they are confident that the rule.rould «-ithsta::d a court test. Asked what cons:itutional problems he fores~.S, personnel director Scnroc-ler replied: "I'm not sure that thcre are an~•. 1'.'e place a11 kinds of conditions on pcon:c in terms of employment." Srhroc('.cr explained that Alexandria has weight requil-etaent for all fulitime city e:n- ployces. ~~0G1,UEo Lawrence Sc-lden, cltairnnan of the board of the Northern V~r_i::i1 c'.:ap- , w ter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said lie v:as 'shocled" by the smo:-;no prohibi:ion durin., off duty hours, but added that he %': ou'.d have to study the iss•.:e carefuliy before mafiing a judgment as to its constitu- tionaiity. ~ _ Chief Rule said the smo:;ers ban ca:r.e about as a result of co nsulta- tions with Dr. Paul 0. Da:is, who heads a private consulting firm on the physical fitness of public sa:ety em- plo.-ces and v:ho helped de:e'.oo the Alexandria department's f;tncss pro- gram. - Davis said Iaboratory tes'-s show conr..ai%•cly that the on-t.`.e-;ob per- for.;nrince of firef?^hters w:io smoke fails to mcasurc up to the pe.formance of r.en-stno~crs. Furthcr;::nr?, Da~-is said, fu'.ly h:ilf of the fircf:_`'crs who die on the job c::•~ of heart a't icks. Davis has fi;;urcs Fi:o«•ing that t'.e dirert cc.st to a ci:y for one ..c firc.i;htcr •,:'..o retires ~<<.,use of heart or lult; d`.,case is ;"-",0.000 a y ca r, r r ! . . 191 I

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