labor & safety firegeezer on 29 Mar 2008 11:08 am
Captain Suspended For Not Using SCBA
THE CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, FIRE DEPARTMENT announced yesterday that they have suspended a captain for 2 weeks without pay for not wearing his SCBA at a car fire Tuesday. A second firefighter who was under his command received a written disciplinary warning for the same infraction.
Post and Courier photo
Charleston FD was strongly condemned for allowing firefighters to operate without donning their gear properly when a furniture store fire led to the deaths of nine of them last June. The department has just recently spent over $1 million purchasing new SCBA’s and put them in service.
The captain admits that he was wrong and will accept the punishment without appeal. The union local president has agreed that the punishment was appropriate. The issue came to light after the local newspaper ran the photo showing the safety lapse at the car fire in a local parking garage.
The Charleston Post and Courier has the full STORY.
IT WAS ALSO ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK that the Charleston Fire Department has hired a new chief training officer from outside the department.
The Post and Courier reports:
Battalion Chief James T. Ghi, former of the Fairfax County, Virginia Fire and Rescue Department has been hired to direct all training for the Department. The appointment of a new training director was one of the primary recommendations of the City of Charleston’s Fire Review Team Phase I Report issued last fall.
Ghi was selected from a pool of 57 applicants from the Charleston Fire Department and around the U.S. and Canada.
The Fire Review Team was established under the direction of Mayor Joe Riley, Jr. to provide a comprehensive independent review of the tragic June 18th fire that claimed the lives of nine Charleston firefighters.
Chief Ghi will head a newly expanded training division which will consist of Chief Ghi and three soon-to-be-named captains who will develop and lead all training for the Charleston Fire Department. He is expected to begin his duties in the Charleston Fire Department in mid April.
The full details and story are HERE.
