BOSTON — Picture this: you’re alone in a room with phones lighting up, radios crackling, alarms going off — and every fire company in the city is depending on you to get it right.

Now imagine you’re not a supervisor. You’re not command staff. You’re just a mid-level dispatcher — and you’ve been ordered to cover not one, but two higher-ranking positions while the entire city’s 911 fire response system runs through your headset. One person doing the job of three.

That’s what happened to Francine Lynch on May 11, 2024.

No officer on duty. No backup. No safety net.

She warned it was reckless. Her supervisors agreed. Even the officer she was relieving refused to hand over the shift.

But Commissioner Paul Burke let it happen anyway.

Lynch did the job. Held the line. And they suspended her for it.

“A major catastrophe” waiting to happen

Internal documents obtained by Mass Daily News show Lynch tried to stop it before it started. She raised concerns days in advance — both verbally and in writing — warning that she was being asked to “bump up two grades and run the group by herself.”

Her direct supervisor, Assistant Superintendent Eileen Clougherty, agreed — calling the situation “a major lawsuit waiting to happen.” She warned the shift would leave Fire Alarm “improperly staffed” and questioned:

Is Commissioner Burke waiting for there to be a major catastrophe? I thought Commissioner Burke cared about the people of the city.

Even the officer Lynch was supposed to relieve filed a formal report refusing to hand over the post, warning it would “lead to delays in apparatus being dispatched and holes in coverage around the city. It is immense danger to the firefighters and the City of Boston.”

The warnings were ignored. The shift went forward anyway.

Deputy Chief Christopher Burke — head of the Fire Alarm Division — enforced the staffing directive handed down by Fire Commissioner Paul Burke and Chief of Operations Calobrisi. When Lynch raised alarms, he gave her a pep talk telling her to “do the best you can.”

She did. And they made her pay for it.

She told the truth. They wrote her up.

As the shift began, Lynch contacted Boston Police, EMS, City Hall, and 34 surrounding fire departments in the Metro Fire mutual aid system.

She warned them: Fire Alarm was critically understaffed. There could be delays. If the center got overwhelmed, calls might go unanswered.

She wasn’t trying to make noise — she was trying to keep people safe.

BFD’s response? They suspended her. The suspension was initiated by Deputy Chief Christopher Burke and later upheld by Commissioner Paul Burke. She was accused of “willful misrepresentation” and “conduct prejudicial to good order.”

Civil Service Commission: BFD leadership “very concerning”

The punishment didn’t stick.

In a scathing 15-page ruling, the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission overturned the suspension and cleared Lynch’s record.

Commissioner Shawn C. Dooley found that Lynch had been “put in a position of authority for which she was not trained or prepared,” and that Boston Fire leadership ignored repeated warnings and “did nothing to alleviate the issue.”

He ruled that Lynch “did everything in her power to ensure that she and the Department were in the best position possible to succeed,” and that her warnings were valid.

The Commission’s final conclusion:

Boston Fire’s handling of this entire ordeal is very concerning, and they hold a significant degree of culpability.

Lynch was reinstated. Full back pay. Clean record.

But the people who created the crisis? Still in charge.

Wu’s commissioner signed the suspension

Fire Commissioner Paul Burke — who signed off on the suspension — isn’t just some bureaucrat. He was appointed by Mayor Wu, who later gave him a $40,000 raise as part of a contract tied to launching three fire cadet classes aimed at boosting diversity in the department.

While dispatchers were stretched thin and scrambling to cover shifts, Burke got a raise.

Staffing cuts, safety risks, and silence

Concerns are also growing about broader decisions under Burke’s leadership.

According to department insiders, minimum staffing at the fire communications center has been quietly reduced — both for 24-hour shifts and for large-scale events like the Boston Marathon and Fourth of July. Where dispatch typically operated with 4–6 personnel including an officer, that minimum has reportedly dropped to as low as two, sometimes with no supervisor at all.

When officers are out, sources say rank-and-file staff are “forced into command” without proper training — echoing the same conditions Lynch faced. Some supervisors have reportedly canceled leave or worked through illness just to avoid the situation from repeating.

The same cost-cutting reportedly affects major events. Where the department once assigned up to six dispatchers for public safety coverage, it now deploys as few as two.

Meanwhile, internal reports allege that Burke has refused to authorize timely repairs to the city’s aging fire alarm box system — leaving portions of Boston, including hospitals and care facilities, without reliable box coverage during off-hours.

“This isn’t about budget or overtime,” one public safety source said. “It’s about making sure we have enough people and the right leadership in place to keep the public safe. People need to know what’s happening behind the scenes.”

Mass Daily News is continuing to investigate staffing decisions and safety concerns inside Boston Fire.

Cadets failing key drills? “Let them retest off the clock.”

At the same time Burke was suspending Lynch, instructors say cadets who failed critical benchmarks were being quietly pushed through the academy.

According to Mass Daily News reporting, multiple sources say cadets were failing “must-pass” fitness events — but were allowed to quietly retest during off-hours, when no one else was around.

Instructors say they were pressured not to fail underperformers. Some asked to be reassigned out of frustration.

The Fire Cadet Program was promoted as a flagship “equity initiative” by the Wu administration. But inside the department, it has become a flashpoint for lowered standards, safety concerns, and crumbling morale.

Critics say political optics are taking priority over operational readiness — and if something doesn’t change, the consequences won’t play out in a classroom. They’ll play out on the fireground.

One woman held the line — and got punished for it

Francine Lynch didn’t ask to run the city.

She wasn’t command staff. She wasn’t trained to lead. But when the alarms started ringing, she did the job.

She held the line when leadership looked the other way.

And instead of being thanked, she was targeted.

Read the full Civil Service Commission ruling and internal memos here:

🔗 Mass.gov - Lynch v. Boston Fire Department (PDF)

Editor’s Note (July 22, 2025): This article refers to both Commissioner Paul Burke (head of BFD) and Deputy Chief Christopher Burke (Fire Alarm Division). While their roles were noted in the story, we’ve clarified their distinction throughout to avoid confusion. They are not related.

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