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Boston firefighters get 1st drug, alcohol tests

WBZ-TV FIle

The first random and drug alcohol tests have been administered to Boston firefighters.

The testing had been a major sticking point in a long and often bitter contract dispute between the city and the firefighters union. The standoff finally ended in April when an arbitrator awarded the firefighters a bonus in exchange for drug and alcohol testing.

Boston Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser symbolically took one of the first tests at a city firehouse on Thursday.

Fraser told The Boston Globe that the tests are being conducted properly and firefighters should have nothing to fear.

City officials begin pushing for random testing after two firefighters who were reportedly impaired by drugs or alcohol were killed in a 2007 restaurant fire.

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