The New Britain Fire Department and Local 992 have come to an agreement to randomly drug test staff members.
The agreement will test a third of the department yearly. That is about 45 people of the 130 on staff. Chief Raul Ortiz says it’s a robust and extensive policy.
In January, a New Britain firefighter died at his Southington home. His cell phone had drug-coded text messages with a colleague, investigators said. This later revealed a drug problem within the department. A lieutenant was fired and seven more firefighters, including two lieutenants, were suspected of drug activity.
“It’s something we’ve been working on since I got here about four years and it really has taken a life of its own in the last six months to a year,” the chief said. “Most of our members, if not all of our members, want this kind of policy in place for protections.”