Firefighters' fued with RPI heats up

TROY - A fire on RPI's campus is resurrecting the Troy Fire Department's call for more manpower.

This has been an ongoing battle for years. The fire department says RPI should pay up to put more fire fighters on staff. RPI says no.

Several windows are boarded up on the third floor of the college's science building where a student sanitizing lab instruments sparked a blaze Monday evening.

"She was working with small amount of alcohol, which resulted in igniting. As a result, spread to some plastics," explained RPI Vice President Claude Rounds.

Fifteen firefighters were checked out for possibly inhaling toxic fumes.

The firefighters' union says they just can't afford to put their men at risk when they're stretched so thin to begin with. They're asking RPI to help pay to put two more firefighters on the books. They would be stationed at the firehouse right across the street from RPI's campus.

Rounds says the school already pay enough taxes to the city.

"We clearly have stated that the public safety fee, specifically legislated and directed to (RPI), is illegal," Rounds said.

Troy Fire Union President Dave Paul disagrees. He says several colleges and universities -- Harvard, Yale, Brown and Stanford - pay a public safety fee to their local fire department.

"It just goes against all common sense to me to say I want more, but I don't want to pay for it," Paul said.

The union president points out that RPI keeps expanding and the Troy Fire Department's manpower is not.