DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG
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More coverage today from WTTG-TV Fox 5 here & here
The DC Fire & EMS Department has been in the news almost constantly over the last few weeks and tonight is no exception. Channel 5 (WTTG-TV/Fox 5) in Washington assigned two different reporters today to look at the fallout from their story last night that resulted in DC Fire & EMS Department Chief Kenneth Ellerbe admitting information given to the City Council about the status of the reserve fleet was wrong. Along with Channel 7 (WJLA-TV/ABC 7), they are trying to get to the bottom of whether the Nation’s Capital has an adequate reserve fleet of fire trucks and ambulances.
The reporters had to get those answers without the help of Chief Kenneth Ellerbe and Deputy Mayor Paul Quander. Instead, they were left to talk with Deputy Chief John Donnelly. Donnelly has taken over at the apapratus shop for Deputy Chief Wayne Branch. According to a statement from Chief Ellerbe last night, Branch decided to retire because of the screwup over the reserve fleet list and the concerns of excessive overtime at the shop.
Along the way today, reporter Paul Wagner uncovered another issue for the department. Just a dozen blocks from the U.S. Capitol building, Wagner pointed out unsecured apparatus parked all around the shop at Half Street and M Street Southwest. It’s a long standing practice, and while some precautions are taken, Wagner found a bunch of unlocked ambulances.
The readiness of the D.C. fire department’s fleet of reserve pumpers and trucks remains unclear after the chief admitted the numbers given to the City Council were wrong.
An investigation by the firefighters’ union found some apparatus listed as being in reserve had actually been sold by the city.
Late Wednesday night, Fire Chief Kenneth Ellerbe announced the deputy chief in charge of fleet, Wayne Branch, had retired and a replacement had been named.
Chief Ellerbe did not respond to repeated requests for comment Thursday. Instead, a deputy chief addressed reporters’ questions about the current state of the fleet.
An investigation by the firefighters’ union found at least six pumpers and two ladder trucks listed as being in reserve had actually been sold. Some on the list had been out of service for years and still others unaccounted for.
In a press release issued Wednesday night, Chief Ellerbe said the numbers given to the City Council last month were from an “old fleet schedule.”
On Thursday, at the fleet maintenance shop in Southwest D.C., FOX 5 tried to contact Deputy Chief Branch to ask him why the inaccurate numbers were given to the council, but we were told he was not in his office.
Outside, the streets around the shop are filled with broken-down ladder trucks, pumpers and ambulances.
Some of them appear to have been stripped for parts.
One ladder truck on the street is on the list given to the council as being one in reserve and ready to take a front-line spot in any of the city’s firehouses.
The deputy chief now in command of the fleet says it will take some time to wrap his arms around the problem.
“What I can tell you is we have a reserve fleet,” said Deputy Chief John Donnelly in an interview Thursday. “We are going to get to the bottom of those numbers right away and we are going to make sure we have enough fire trucks on the road to meet the needs of the community.”
As of Wednesday night, the firefighters’ union said the fire department had no reserve ladder trucks and the one from Shaw was sent to Brightwood — leaving Shaw uncovered.
“I’m sorry,” said Donnelly. “I just don’t have that answer right this second. I’m sure if we needed a ladder truck, we would find a way to get one together and put it in service.”
The numbers given to the council back on February 20 also listed 106 EMS transport units. It is a number the firefighters’ union has not been able to confirm.
Deputy Chief Donnelly says he will spend the next few days completing an audit in hopes of coming up with an accurate number.
“I’m not going to spend a lot of time examining backward of who has done what or who hasn’t done what,” said Donnelly. “I’m going to fix it going forward and starting immediately.”
In the last two weeks, ambulances have been unavailable for a stroke victim who was instead transported to a hospital in a pumper and a D.C. police officer seriously injured in a hit-and-run, raising questions about the readiness of the EMS fleet.
FOX 5 also tried to contact the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Paul Quander for comment on the readiness of the reserve fleet, but he did not return several email messages.
Autria Godfrey, WJLA-TV/ABC 7:
Branch was the first man to publicly take the fall for the ongoing issues within the D.C. fire department.
He testified before the D.C. Council last month about the readiness of emergency vehicles. Branch retired just five days later.
It turns out the number of units he told the council were ready and in service was inaccurate. Some have no doors. One had no compartment door for more than a year. One has been listed out-of-service since 2010. One has been in a scrapyard in Wisconsin for the past four years.
“When you see us struggling to do day to day operations, I can’t imagine a terrorist event or a natural disaster,” says Ed Smith, D.C. Firefighters Union president.
Smith is referring to multiple incidents where ambulances weren’t available.
Last Tuesday, a D.C. motorcycle officer waited in the street 20 minutes after suffering a broken leg during a hit and run. He was eventually picked up by a Prince George’s County ambulance.
But the fire department, and the man taking over for Branch, maintains it was all a miscommunication and the fleet is fine.
“We are going to make sure we have the resources that we need and if we don’t we are going to go find them and we are going to get all this stuff up here so we are ready to meet the needs,” says John Donnelly, incoming deputy fire chief.
Do you want to sell a rig? Click HERE to find out how with SellFireTrucks.com.
Also on STATter911 …
- What did the fire chief know & when did he know it? Washington City Paper raises questions about deputy chief’s retirement & Chief Ellerbe’s knowledge of faulty fleet list. – March 15, 2013
- UPDATED – News report: While apologizing to council for giving wrong info on reserve fleet, DC fire chief & dep. mayor again gave wrong info about reserve fleet. – March 29, 2013
- UPDATE – DC fire chief admits bad information about fleet given to city council. Ellerbe says maintenance chief at fault will retire. Thanks union for bringing it to light despite mayor’s aide saying IAFF is ‘fabricating’ apparatus stories. – March 13, 2013
- Latest from DC: Like Detroit, ladder trucks in Nation’s Capital not inspected. Chief says lack of reserves last year is the reason. – March 16, 2013
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Eventually the Mayor’s & the Fire Chief’s luck is going to run out. The city council has to see the lies and deceitfulness that is going on. I would love to have the email address for the Fire Chief. I have a few suggestions for him on how to run a “Fire Department”
I have no dog in this fight other than Brothers with no equipment.
1. This poor guy that took this job better have one hell of a Golden Parachute!
2. Sounds similar to the 90′s when they had to steal parts and pieces and trucks from Richmond VA.
3. How many FD Vehicles can block Hydrants?
Yes, as I recall, in an effort to quickly get trucks back on the road at a time when there were many days with only a half doezen working ladder trucks in DC (some days as few as three) Tom Tippett brought in a couple from Richmond. The stories coming out in recent weeks remind me a lot of DCFD back then.
Statter
Dave, it should remind you of ‘back then’ as that is where LRB has taken us. He has set the department back at least 20 years.
More lies from LRB. The DFC of Fleet Maintenance put in his papers weeks ago after the story about the overtime issue at the shop hit the news. Neither that issue or this one are his fault. Bot of these issues are the fault of LRB. It is his poor leadership which has caused both problems, and with how he runs everything it is hard to believe he didn’t have a hand in the items placed in this inaccurate report on apparatus. The DFC who is now retiring is a good guy and doesn’t deserve this. It’s a shame to see a good guy like that have to be publicly embarrassed and to have to retire earlier than he wanted due to LRB.
Does anyone remember the movie “Hot Tub Time Machine”? This is DCFD Time Machine and we’re not back in the 90′s, we’ve gone back to the 80′s. Take a look at mayor vinnie. His politics are reminiscent of another mayor in that time frame, that dude was freaken teflon until one final misstep, but that took YEARS even with the drama that swirled daily around his administration. mayor vinnie has only been around two years so he’s probably got about ten to go before he gets thrown out or imprisoned, whichever comes first, remember, it’s the 80′s again. JackWagon, everyone within the District Government’s e-mail is as follows: first name.last name @dc.gov
Looks like LRB took the best hope the rank and file had and put him in charge of the apparatus division…. Real question now is who replaces Donnelly in his current position and who fills his homeland security duties? I guess in the Nations Capitol under Chief LRB, Homeland Security takes a back step….
Our best hope? Has he ever been anything more than a desktop Chief? Never been OIC of a Company at any rank. Never been a BFC in the field. Was the Operations DFC while the regular one was on Sick Leave for about a month. He is a Paper Pushing Chief. What he will need is a crossing guard because sooner or later Ellerbe will drive the bus over him too. Best Hope…If he is all we have we are doomed.
Where is Charlie LaDuff when you need him!
Charlie is fighting his own demons . Lol. As far as taking the department backwards, you probably never really progressed from the 90 s the hot button topics just changed from time to time. Most of these issues get nothing but lip service until something bigger or hotter comes up. One year it’s uniforms , one year it’s apparatus, next will be air packs or staffing or raises . It never gets better just priorities ebb and flow.
DFC Donnelly was moved to the Department’s XO a couple of months ago, but he was still running the Special Ops Division at the same time. As the DFC of the Apparatus Division he’s probably running all three spots now. Have to do more with less you know. After all, there’s only a half BILLION dollar surplus in the city’s budget. The mismanagement that goes on here gives mismanagement a bad name.
DFC William Boswell is turning in his grave (R.I.P. Uncle Bill)
That is why the shop at one time had a Deputy, a BFC, Two Captains, and a Lieutenant, assigned. Now its one Captain, and a Deputy.
The logistics section only has a Lieut assigned as of now.
LRB’s shinning star was moved to the basement of Vermont ave.
He sets everyone up to fail…
Lies lead to more lies, then even more lies, etc…
Come on Liarby, really, think it is time to put in your papers?
Politicians (yes, high-ranking fire officers are, to some extent, politicians) have yet to learn that they can lie for only so long before the media uncovers it all. Capital Hill is full of them. So If the bad stuff rolls downhill, then a bunch of seems to have seeped into LRB’s office. If lower officers are resigning, then the upper officer should also. He’s lost control.