PROVIDENCE, R. I. -- The firefighter union president is taking issue with the city's explanation for missed fire inspections at its schools.
"I can understand if a school slipped through the cracks for a year or two," said Paul Doughty. "But when we start talking about schools that have gone five, six and seven years without being inspected, that's by design."
Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare acknowledged Friday that inspections may have been skipped for more than six years, but said all 37 schools have been checked since May and that the schools are safe. Pare said inspection records may have been misplaced.
Doughty alleges that the administration of former Mayor David N. Cicilline directed -- or indirectly told -- fire officials to avoid inspections that would reveal costly and "significant code violations."
"This is a bunch of nonsense," Eric Hyers, Cicilline's campaign spokesman, said Friday.