The number of firefighters busted for drunken driving so far this year has passed the total for all of 2003.
As of Friday, 32 firefighters were charged with drunken driving – five more than the 27 charged last year, said FDNY spokeswoman Virginia Lam. At the current pace, the FDNY could rack up more than 50 DWI arrests by year’s end.
The Post revealed in May that 22 firefighters had been arrested for DWI and that harsher penalties, in the form of more docked days, had not stopped the rise in cases. A month after The Post report, FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta appointed a panel to probe what measures could be taken to stem the tide. The panel has not yet made any recommendations.