Charleston report due today; Montgomery Co. MD FF arrested; DC chief brings up the topic of firehouse closings
A sad and important day in Charleston
Later today a report that has been much anticipated and much talked about will be available for everyone to see. Many words have been written about what the report on the Sofa Super Store fire should look like and what it should and shouldn’t include.
The panel behind the report, lead by J. Gordon Routley, has been both lauded and blasted by people who haven’t seen word one of this phase of the report.
The panel members qualifications and their relationship to the city and its mayor have been examined by reporters and by bloggers.
But today the words everyone else, including me, have written won’t matter. The words that will mean something will be in what is expected to be a lengthy, detailed look at what went wrong on June 18 that caused nine men to lose their lives.
Nothing in the report will bring any one of those firefighters back home to their families. Instead its impact will be determined by how clear the message is and what those in the fire service come away with that can help, in some way, prevent similar tragedies.
My one guess about this report, having no real insight into its contents, is that most every mistake that was made has been written about before in some other report about a firefighter’s demise.
Maybe the long, drawn out controversy surrounding this tragedy, with its bad publicity and ill feelings will, in the end, serve a positive purpose. Could it be, because of it, more people will now know about and read the report and learn some important lessons?
The other news out of Charleston came just after 10:00 AM Wednesday with the retirement announcement of Chief Rusty Thomas.
In case you missed the coverage, there are links below to various stories and video.
One thing you should definitely read is Dr. Harry Carter’s commentary at Firehouse.com. Harry says Chief Thomas is doing the right thing and shows sympathy for this tragic figure. But he assigns blame for exactly what I talked about a few paragraphs back, “Mayor Joe Riley has allowed this entire issue to remain on the front pages of our media for far longer than was necessary”.
Read Dr. Harry Carter’s column
Charleston Post & Courier report
Column by Brian Hicks in Post & Courier
Raw video of the statement by Chief Thomas
Raw video from Mayor Riley’s press conference
Montgomery County firefighter puts out fire and is arrested
Picture of Thomas Walter from Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service
When the call was dispatched for a townhouse fire at 19,674 Club Lake Road Tuesday night, Montgomery County fire investigators knew exactly where they were going. The address is a few doors away from a man who was their suspect in a series of set fires in the Gaithersburg area since at least March.
The investigators didn’t have to knock on Thomas Walter’s door at 19,625. That’s because Walter met the first fire truck and told the crew the fire was under the deck and he already had it under control.
Walter, a volunteer firefighter with the Gaithersburg-Washington Grove VFD, chatted with investigators who found inconsistencies with the 19-year-old’s story. In the end, investigators claim Thomas confessed to Tuesday’s fire and one at golf course utility shed on March 24.
DC chief raises the idea of closing firehouses or not fully funding EMS initiatives
STATter 911 caught up with DC Fire & EMS Chief Dennis Rubin on Wednesday, a day after the DC Council’s Public Safety and Judiciary Committee Chairman Phil Mendelson slashed almost $3 million out of the budget plans for the next fiscal year. Here’s what the chief said that we aired last night on 9NEWS NOW at 11:00 PM:
“It’ll come down to some pretty hard choices. Either slow down implementing the emergency medical services plan, or perhaps closing fire stations. We’ll see what time brings. But it is a significant cut.”
Chief Rubin’s department will still be getting a more than 4% increase. This is a lot better than what I am hearing from other chiefs throughout the region, who may have to make due with less because of the slower economy.
But DC’s chief makes the point that the mayor’s budget plan allowed for the department to move forward in an area that has been neglected for decades.
Specifically, the EMS task force formed by Mayor Fenty in the wake of the investigation into the death of former New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum laid out about 50 recommendations that Chief Rubin has been charged with implementing. The chief says it is likely the cuts will mean, among other things, the plan to have a battalion chief in charge of EMS around-the-clock will be delayed.
When pressed further about the idea of fire station closings, Chief Rubin said it will depend on how this all plays out. But he made it clear the reduced budget will mean either a cut in current services or a delay in important and promised new services in EMS.
Allison Klein is also reporting on this story in today’s Washington Post. She caught up with Phil Mendelson:
“They have a very weak case,” he said of the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services. “We have added to that department year after year.”
Mendelson said the cuts to the fire budget are based on the theory that money can be saved because of the vacancies the department will have during the year. The department has about 2,400 employees and 100 vacancies, with 150 more in the pipeline, Mendelson said.
