Making split-second decisions is a necessary part of the job when fighting a fire. So if firefighters have to wait for one of their higher-ups to arrive and tell them when it’s safe to go inside a building, precious minutes could pass by. That was the concern from members of the Baltimore City Fire Department after the administration sent out this memo about a new policy. It says crews are to attack a fire only from the outside, until a battalion chief tells them otherwise. Matthew Coster, president of Baltimore Firefighters IAFF Local 734, wasn’t a fan of that directive. “We have a job to do - save lives and property - and we don’t want to be handcuffed by some memo that says we aren’t able to do that,” Coster said. That memo was intended only for members of the fire department, but it was made public. “I’ve gotten tons of phone calls and everything from the membership that wasn’t happy about the memo. So I’m sure somebody did leak the memo,” Coster said. Less than 24 hours late...