Assistant Chief | STATter911.com

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FirefighterCloseCalls.com brought this story to my attention. It’s about a Los Angeles County Fire Department assistant chief who is now under investigation because a TV news reporter says he caught the chief drinking on the job. It’s another reminder that cameras are everywhere.

In this case, I am very interested in the back story that I didn’t find mentioned. What prompted the reporter to do this? One would guess a tip came in from a colleague or possibly someone at the restaurant.

When I was in the news business, I always looked at the real need for a hidden camera (I will admit it usually made me feel a bit sleazy in the few times I used it). What is it going to get that I can’t get with a camera out in the open? What is the value of the story that it would help capture? What wrong are we going to help right by going this route?

I also felt similarly about ambush interviews and tried to do them only when there was no other way to get a public official to talk.

Now to the alcohol issue. Based on a story I posted on STATter911.com years ago about firefighters and drinking, I think I know what the reaction to this story is going to be and how it will be divided (if you have seen any of my presentations, you may know this answer). But I am curious if anything has changed since then. Let me know your thoughts on this story. Don’t be shy.

KCBS-TV:

Investigative reporter David Goldstein caught a high-ranking employee of LA County Fire allegedly drinking on the job.

Goldstein’s hidden cameras captured Vic Mesrobian, an assistant chief of County Fire’s information management department, drive off in a county fire vehicle and drink beer while on duty during lunch.

His formal title, Information Technology Manager, is a civilian position that pays $124,421.48 a year in taxpayer money.

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Two days in a row someone has put out a house fire for firefighters in Whitehall, Pennsylvania before the first engine arrived. Yesterday it was a neighbor (click here). Today, newsworking.org's Bill Rohrer tells us is it's an assistant chief who arrived on the scene first and knocked down the garage fire with a green line in one hand and a radio in the other.

The never ending debate on STATter911.com (and elsewhere) seems to be where the first line should go on a fire in an attached garage. Should the garden hose have gone through the front door to the doorway to the garage or hit the fire from the outside garage door?

Clearly, these two fires show someone needs to write an SOP for green line use so the public and firefighters arriving without apparatus know what is expected of them. While you are at it, make sure that we have guidelines for using coolers (click here) and snow blowers (click here) to put out fires. In addition, someone needs to come up with standards to make sure the green lines (here's another one), coolers and snow blowers meet minimum standards for firefighting.