Probe Reveals Ga. FFs Never Checked House

[x635 4,066]

DeKalb Firefighters To Be Punished

DeKalb County Firefighters Did Not Check On Victim

1:33 pm EST January 28, 2010

DUNWOODY, Ga. -- Georgia Fire and Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine is launching an investigation into the fire that killed a Dunwoody woman.

Friday, a DeKalb County spokeswoman said at least four DeKalb County firefighters will be disciplined for not following proper procedure when responding to Ann Bartlett's 911 call

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/22367003/detail.html

Copy Of Fire Department's Investigation Report: http://www.cbsatlanta.com/download/2010/0128/22368624.pdf

[PFDRes47cue 653]

That is simply embarrassing. The four firefighters should not be punished for not following SOG's or whatever term they use. They should be put in jail! How can you respond to a reported structure fire that is reported by the home owner who is inside the home and not check the house when it appears there is no fire? How much time and energy does it take to get off the rig and take even one step inside the house? Don't call 911 in Dekalb county, especially if your house is on fire.

[efdcapt115 1,511]

Nobody got off the rigs to check the structure. No walk around, no knock on the door, no look through the windows. Nothing. Nadda. Disgusting. End.

[chris 18]

We (Croton) try to get to the scene even if it is non emergency mode to do the paperwork and also to familiarize yourself with your district's. We try to get to every scene even if it is one rig or even a chief . When you are called it is your responsibility to do an investigation and if you don't shame on you. Getting cancelled should not be an option , being cancelled by the police is bad also. It is a much bigger deal than people think..

[LTNRFD 266]

This was a phone call from the house reporting a fire. If they can't find the location, bang on a neighbors door and ask for a verification of the address.

I remember an article written many years ago by a D.C. from Hartsdale. The topic was what do you do for automatic alarms. How far do you go in gaining access??? The article was written after they responded to an automatic alarm that turned out to be a smoldering plant in the house. If the smoldering plant was not found when it was, there may have been a larger fire later. The article went on to say that every reasonable attemp must be made to determine the nature of the automatic alarm. Walk around the building, get a key holder to the scene, check second floor windows etc.

With that being said about an automatic alarm, get off the rig !!!!! When there is a live phone call, Look, look and look again. Have a neighbor verify the location, have the dispatcher try to call back the caller, what ever it takes.

Chief Cambell talked about this very topic in the probie school. He went as far as to say that if you respond to an EMS call and find only 1 person in the house/apt, check to see if there might be someone else there that's in need of assistance. Never take it for granted that the caller is the only person in need of assistance.

[helicopper 1,050]

We (Croton) try to get to the scene even if it is non emergency mode to do the paperwork and also to familiarize yourself with your district's. We try to get to every scene even if it is one rig or even a chief . When you are called it is your responsibility to do an investigation and if you don't shame on you. Getting cancelled should not be an option , being cancelled by the police is bad also. It is a much bigger deal than people think..

I agree to a point. If someone cancels you then they assume the responsibility and liability for that decision. There are instances where it is entirely appropriate to cancel and be canceled just like it is entirely appropriate to stop an emergency mode response when advised that the call is not an emergency. All to often resources continue to respond with lights and siren after a size-up indicates that the emergency is minor or non-existent.

If nobody else is on-scene then yes, it is your responsibilitiy to complete a size-up and investigation as appropriate.

In this specific case, it seems that the entire system broke down. Seven pieces of apparatus arrive for a telephone report of an inside fire and nobody even knocks on the door? Wow, that's not normal.

The officers on-duty were properly fired; this seems to me to be a case of negiglence - based on the information known to me thus far.

If you didn't read the full report of the investigation, it's attached.

22368624.pdf

[chris 18]

I agree when it is done on the air- it is recorded and you are covered , when it comes down to liability you need to cya. It's a very fine line. And yes you should go to a non-emergency response when its recomended because if you crash on the way to nothing and someone gets hurt its also a liability. At times it seems like you can't win?

[x635 4,066]

This seemed to have failed on every level, from dispatch on down. You have someone who called 911 to report a fire also involving a home oxygen system, and nobody even makes contact with this female to ensure every thing is alright. There's seemingly no request for a callback to verify the address, and no attempt to callback after the line disconnected noted.

This is just gross negligence if everything I read is correct.

[64FFMJK 21]

I hope that the DA is investigating this as well. As I read that report it definitely looks like a case of gross negligence.

[helicopper 1,050]

Info on the settlement was recently released:

The settlement releases the county and the five individual defendants from liability, but does not admit responsibility. The ten specific changes include:

1. Updating of ICS guidelines and associated training

2. Mandatory use of ICS on all incidents

3. Battalion chiefs to verify all incidents where company officers wish to cancel additional units

4. Mandatory 360 walk around of the location of a reported fire.

5. Clarification of level 1 staging.

6. Clarification on what crews should do if an address cannot be located.

7. Improvement in tracking critical factors such as Address, Call Back Number, Information on the MDT, Location of Incident, Size Up and a 360 view.

8. Education on the Automatic Number Identification and Automatic Location Identification system.

9. Review of the training required of acting officers.

10. Improvements to GIS mapping on the Mobile Data Terminal in fire apparatus

[jack10562 414]

The original story links have long since expired, here is an active one:

http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/83036557.html

[gss131 212]

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/16476547/dekalb-county-fire-captain-reinstated-after-court-ruling

[mstrang1 213]

I am never one to trust cancellations. I one time pulled up to a homeowner standing at the front door shouting that it was a false alarm. Unbeknownst to her, smoke was pushing out the eave right above her head! Do an investigation! Even a cursory look and a sniff is better than nothing.

I see 4 or 5 guys lost their job over this incident. Now my question is, if a Captain is a)lazy or b)doing back to back calls, and is in a rush to leave the scene, what responsibility does a junior firefighter have in correcting this supposed experienced captains decision? How many guys have been with a boneheaded officer doing something boneheaded, and just let it go? I'm not sure how much experience the firefighters had in this case, but imagine you were a probie on that engine. The Captain says its all good, who the heck are you to say otherwise?

I'm not sure of the result, but did anything happen to the dispatcher/dispatch center? Seems the errors started there and continued on through the night.

PS. (I am in no way advocating anything illegal/immoral, etc..) If you want to discuss something off the record that may lead to fault/litigation, NEVER USE EMAIL OR A RECORDED LINE. In this case it was available through FOIL to the press and, I assume, subpoenaed by the courts. Also, do not try and get around it with personal email or phones(Illegal, I believe).

[Bnechis 3,961]

Info on the settlement was recently released:

4. Mandatory 360 walk around of the location of a reported fire.

10. Improvements to GIS mapping on the Mobile Data Terminal in fire apparatus

Got to be careful with policies that have "mandatory" in them. What happens when you can not physically do a 360 walk around?

In Westchester how many depts actually have GIS mapping on the Mobile Data Terminal in fire apparatus?

[NJMedic 96]

Back in the day when I was in the fire compay we never honored a cancellation unless it was a fire officer on scene. Once a FD unit arrived they would verify. Once too many times PD tried to cancel only to actualy find a problem unpon furher investigation by the FD. We always entered a structure were a fire alarm was activated. Our thought being that if someone paid the expense of installing a fire alarm they we going to get the service they deserved. Of course we tried to do as little damage as possible but calling an owner out every third day when his fire alarm was activated for the tenth time in one week got the message across, especially if it was raining or snowing out at 0300 hours.

[FireMedic049 597]

I see 4 or 5 guys lost their job over this incident.

I forget the actually number, but you are in the ballpark with the number of people fired over this incident. If memory serves, the officers on the first two arriving units, the responding BC, a chief above that level and another FF. With the exception of the two chiefs, all were reinstated after going thru the appeal/grievance process - essentially because of a lack of due process. I know one for sure retired shortly after being reinstated. The chiefs for some reason didn't have the same recourse available to them and lost their jobs. I don't specifically recall if the dispatcher was disciplined over the matter.

I'm not sure how much experience the firefighters had in this case, but imagine you were a probie on that engine. The Captain says its all good, who the heck are you to say otherwise?

I'm not sure of the result, but did anything happen to the dispatcher/dispatch center? Seems the errors started there and continued on through the night.

As I recall, the officer on the first arriving engine was an "acting" officer. The arriving unit (truck) had a veteran officer. As I recall from the report on this incident, there was some very important information that was not relayed to the field units that if it had been, they would've taken a different course of action and this was IMO not a clear cut case of "dereliction of duty" on the part of the field units as many in cyberspace have asserted.

[gss131 212]

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/16476547/dekalb-county-fire-captain-reinstated-after-court-ruling

Captain has been reinstated,not sure of the others.