Fallout from Baltimore, MD FF death

[Jason762 2]

Baltimore Fires Two More Commanders for Deadly Exercise

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Annie Linskey,

The Baltimore Sun

The Baltimore City Fire Department has dismissed two more commanders for being "negligent" and "incompetent" in their roles at a live-burn training exercise in which instructors violated dozens of safety rules and a 29-year-old recruit died.

This brings to three the number of fire officers fired in the wake of the Feb. 9 fatal exercise, a significant development for leaders at fire departments around the country who are monitoring what's happening with training in Baltimore as they decide how -- and even if -- they will conduct live burns.

Lt. Joseph L. Crest, the lead instructor at the fatal exercise, and Lt. Barry P. Broyles, the instructor in charge of an ill-prepared rescue team, will lose their jobs effective Aug. 2 and Aug. 4. The head of the fire academy, Battalion Chief Kenneth B. Hyde Sr., was fired two weeks after the burn that led to the death of Racheal M. Wilson.

"The message here is that this kind of incompetence is not going to be tolerated at the Fire Department," said Rick Binetti, a Fire Department spokesman. "They are asked to do a job, they are asked to follow safety regulations. When that is not done, people's lives are in danger."

The developments in Baltimore are being disseminated to a network of national fire leaders via blast e-mails, online forums and trade journals.

Jay Lowry, the editor of a popular industry blog Firefighter Hourly, said he regularly receives comments about Baltimore from leaders at midsize and large fire departments.

"Baltimore is important," he said. "When it comes to training, Baltimore is going to stick out in the debate about whether or not the fire service continues to conduct live burns."

He said that readers often ask: "Will [baltimore] spur any change?"

Lowry noted that there is considerable speculation about the fate of Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. "He's a respected fire chief," said Lowry, who used to be the fire marshal for the Charleston, S.C., Fire Department. "Obviously there is interest in whether or not the fire chief gets dismissed. Certainly based on that, [other chiefs] will make decisions in the future about live burns."

Phil Welsh, the director of the Regional Emergency Services Training Center in North Carolina, said that when instructors talk about Baltimore, they express sympathy for the fire commanders but also use the fire as a reminder about following regulations.

"It brings back the realization that you have to be really careful and stay on top of what you are doing," he said. "There is a reason the standards are in place."

Baltimore fire commanders violated safety standards at virtually every phase of the live-burn exercise, according to an internal fire department report and a citation from the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, which determined that many of the violations were "willful." Fire instructors and consultants from Alabama, Connecticut and New Jersey have contacted The Sun seeking copies of those documents.

Internal department documents showed that Crest and Broyles were charged with four internal offenses -- including being "incompetent or negligent in the performance of duty," failing to give "undivided attention to assigned duties," failing to "exercise good judgment" and violating department rules.

Problems with Baltimore's exercise began when Hyde, then the training academy chief, selected a vacant building that had been ripped apart by an earlier class practicing how to tear holes in the walls and ceilings. It was a building that Hyde had previously deemed "unsuitable" for burning in an e-mail exchange with fire commanders.

The three-story house was filled with debris, including brush, a tire, mattresses and a lamppost, and nobody cleared it out before burning the house. Safety standards say that all holes should be patched and debris removed.

Recruits were not taken through the building, and emergency exits were never identified, violating other safety standards, according to the internal report and the state labor department's charging documents.

Safety rules say that only one fire can be lit in a house during a live burn, but three Baltimore instructors ignited a total of eight fires in the house. Instructors started on the third floor where they lit two, moved to the second floor and lit five, then lit one more on the first floor, according to the state labor department's charging documents.

The team of recruits that included Wilson did not have a radio, another safety violation. Other firefighters entered the house without proper breathing equipment and they did not have a backup hose ready if the fire got out of control, according to the department of labor.

The rescue team was staffed by recruits rather than seasoned firefighters, a violation of department policy. The hose for the 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.

Capt. Stephan G. Fugate, the president of Baltimore's fire officers union, said that he is asking the city's civil service commission to reinstate Broyles and Crest. "My role as the union local president is to defend their position," he said.

Still, Fugate said that he believes Crest, who was in charge of the exercise, should shoulder more responsibility than Broyles. "I think Barry [broyles'] role is far less than Joe [Crest's]," he said. "I think Barry's role was less contributory."

Broyles, a 32-year veteran, said in an interview yesterday that he did not help set up the Feb. 9 fire because he had an infected toe. He also said that he was "not all that familiar" with the national safety standards governing live burns off the academy grounds.

Broyles, who was in charge of the rescue team, said he doesn't believe the department's policy requires that the team have a charged hose. He said that the team was staffed by recruits rather than fully trained firefighters because there were not enough firefighters available.

The citation document from the department of labor said that not enough instructors were at the scene.

Broyles noted there was a live-burn exercise conducted the day before the fatal drill, and said that on that day, the rescue team was also made up of recruits.

He said that Hyde, the former training academy chief, had requested back up support from fire companies, but he was told that the on-duty fire engines could not be put out of service.

Binetti, a Fire Department spokesman, said that there were many problems with the burn, but said that Broyles had a responsibility to object to the conditions. "It is about the inaction of the members there; that is what the trial board found," Binetti said.

Hyde is facing separate scrutiny in Anne Arundel County, where he is considered a "person of interest" in a criminal investigation into the finances of the Riviera Beach Volunteer Fire Company that he once led, according to Mark Shawkey, a county police spokesman.

Fellow firefighters said that he used the firehouse's credit card to pay for personal expenses, but he has said that he repaid the money. So far, one former treasurer from that firehouse, Kelly McColl, has been charged with writing checks from the volunteer company's account to pay for his mortgage.

Separately, the Baltimore Fire Department is being audited by the city's comptroller because of an off-the-books spending account it kept with Draeger Safety Inc., a fire equipment company.

Records published in The Sun showed that the Fire Department accumulated $250,000 in credits from items it returned, rebates and purchases that the city paid for but were not delivered. The department then used the fund to make unauthorized purchases, according to the records.

Anthony McCarthy, a spokesman for Sheila Dixon, said the Fire Department may be in store for additional dismissals and changes. "I think that still is an open question about what direction the mayor takes with regard to the Fire Department," he said.

McCarthy said that the mayor will not make any decisions until Howard County Deputy Chief Chris Shimer completes his investigation into the training and safety practices at the department. The report, requested after the death of Wilson, is expected to be finished in about a month, McCarthy said.

annie.linskey@baltsun.com

Find previous coverage at baltimoresun.com/recruit

timeline

Feb. 9: Racheal M. Wilson is killed in a live-burn training exercise at a vacant, city-owned rowhouse at 143 S. Calverton Road. Also injured are Wilson's instructor, Ryan T. Wenger, and another recruit, Stephanie A. Cisneros. Feb. 12: Baltimore City Fire Department halts all live-burn training. Feb. 14: Baltimore City Fire Department suspends without pay the head of the training academy, Division Chief Kenneth B. Hyde Sr., and the commander in charge of the fatal exercise, Lt. Joseph L. Crest. Feb. 15: Fire Department suspends without pay Lt. Barry P. Broyles, a fire academy instructor who was in charge of the rescue team at the fatal burn. Feb. 22: Mayor Sheila Dixon fires Hyde. She asks Howard County Deputy Fire Chief Chris Shimer to lead an independent investigation into safety and training practices at the Fire Department. Feb. 23: Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. releases internal report showing that the Fire Department violated 36 national safety standards during the fatal fire. March 9: Goodwin moves 14 new instructors to the training academy, secures $80,000 grant for new radios, increases staff of the safety office. March 29: Goodwin announces shake-up with the midlevel fire commanders, requiring 16 of the department's 18 battalion chiefs to move to new commands. April and May: Fire unions hold series of no-confidence votes in Goodwin. May 7: Goodwin announces need for cultural change at the Fire Department, including encouraging firefighters to speak out about safety concerns and ordering safety office to make more frequent inspections at firehouses. May 31: Trial Board recommends terminating Broyles and Crest. June 26: Maryland Department of Labor charges the Fire Department with "willful" safety violations after five-month investigation. July 5: The Sun learns that Goodwin has fired Crest and Broyles, effective Aug. 2 and Aug. 4, respectively.

Edited July 6, 2007 by Jason762