Lieutenant from Baltimore training death case ordered reinstated and promoted. Also, Chief Clack’s command staff.
Barry P. Broyles photo from his page at Firefighter Nation
Baltimore Training LODD Final Report
Baltimore Training LODD Final Report Appendices
Lt. Barry Broyles had been called “negligent” and “incompetent”. Now Broyles has been ordered back on the job with the Baltimore City Fire Department and will likely be promoted to captain.
The trouble for Broyles began after the death last year of Racheal Wilson, a 29-year-old recruit who died during a live training fire at row house. A trial board recommended Broyles’ firing.
Broyles reacted to the news with a message posted to his page at Firefighter Nation. It starts: “It’s been a rough year!!! But the end result has turned out in my favor. As some of you may or may not know I was scapegoated and terminated / forced into retirement after the Tragic death of FPA Recruit Rachel Wilson … ” Click here to read the entire message.
Justin Fenton writes about the latest developments and Chief Jim Clack’s new command staff in The Baltimore Sun. Here are excerpts:
The city’s civil service commissioner has upheld a hearing examiner’s decision to reinstate Lt. Barry P. Broyles, the instructor in charge of an ill-prepared rescue team that responded to the fatal exercise Feb. 9, 2007, in which Racheal M. Wilson was killed. He was among three officers who lost their jobs in the fallout from that incident.
Broyles, a 32-year veteran, will receive back pay and benefits dating to July 13, 2007, according to a letter from Devon Dodson, president of the civil service commission. Because he was due to be promoted during the period in which he was suspended, he will also return as a captain, possibly at the fire academy.
Reached yesterday, Broyles said the decision was a relief. He has maintained that he did not violate department rules and said restoring his reputation is important.
He (Broyles) said one of the key accusations against him was that the hose for his rescue group was coiled in the back of a pickup truck instead of being filled with water and ready to go, a safety violation noted in the state documents. At his hearings, Broyles said that he noted that the department’s training materials did not stipulate that his team was responsible for a charged hose line.
Capt. Stephan G. Fugate, the president of Baltimore’s fire officers union who personally represented Broyles in his hearings, said Broyles’ retroactive promotion could bump someone on the current promotion list. He said he would work with Chief Jim Clack on the issue.
Yesterday, Clack swore in his new management team at a ceremony at the fire academy. The appointments were: Division Chief Lloyd R. Carter, support services; Deputy Chief Ernest O. Trimper III, logistics; Deputy Chief Raymond C. O’Brocki, community risk reduction within the Office of the Fire Marshal; Deputy Chief Joseph V. Brocato, education and training, including all aspects of the fire training academy; Deputy Chief Arthur F. Cate, information technology division and fire communications; Deputy Chief Dickson Henry, EMS; and Cartwright, director of communications.
Deputy Chiefs Reginald L. Sessions, Steve Weigman, Jeffrey R. Segal and Raymond O. Devilbiss will also be responsible for managing day-to-day field operations of 36 engines, 19 truck companies, 22 first-line medic units and four critical alert medics, as well as coordinating special equipment such as mobile command and water rescue operations.
