WEBVTT

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in the city of Newburgh now demanding better protection when

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it comes to fire safety after a horrific, deadly

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fire. A public meeting to address ongoing controversy.

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Yeah, it was awful. It was just a

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month ago back in june people living here on Lander

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Street. They watched in horror as their beloved neighbor

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, who they called. Miss Debbie was engulfed in

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flames as she was right in that window up there

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, pleading for help. And last night's meeting at

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times became quite heated. Take a listen. He's

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to be escorted out many say last month's fire that

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took the life of 64 year old Debra Benedict and

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left others homeless could have been prevented. City cut

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back on the required number of firefighters on duty from

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10 to 7. Rescuers back in january to save

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money on overtime. Mayor said he was spending a

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million dollars in overtime and they have money problems here

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in Newburgh. So despite protests, they made those

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cuts. Despite protests from fire officials. This past

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weekend, the Fire Department posted a picture after one

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of their trucks broke down, leaving only three firefighters

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to cover the city until it was fixed now on

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the night of june's fatal fire. The first four

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firefighters on the scene were met with shooting flames,

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but say they couldn't get a ladder up to rescue

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Debra Benedict until the remaining three firefighters arrived with their

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water truck. But by then it was just too

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late Now, Debbie's sons spoke at the meeting,

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One of them who's actually living with her at the

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time had to jump to safety. Here's what one

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of them had to say. Take a listen.

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I was born and raised up here and it makes

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me feel disgusted that this was allowed to happen to

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my mother and now I got my brother standing here

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because of the firefighters. What they were able to

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do for my family. Mayor Torrance Harvey insists that

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Benedict's death was not a cause of a lack of

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manpower. Uh, he says that the city is

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above the state minimum staffing levels for a city.

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This size. City officials are saying they want to

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hire part time and volunteer firefighters. In the meantime

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, people are calling for an outside investigation into last

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month's fire. We're in Newburgh. Let's go back

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to the studio.