The worst day in any Fire Chief or Police Chief's life has to be the day they lose one of their own. To compound the issue by not doing everything possible to get to the truth and facts of the death and make every attempt to change so it never happens again is absolutely wrong. I think every Chief has that responsibility and moral obligation as part of their leadership.
I recently had a conversation with Hartford's Fire Chief Carlos Huertas after the death of Firefighter Kevin Bell. Huertas told me that he had formed a Board of Inquiry to look into the death. He had apparently appointed several members to serve on the panel. At the time I commended his efforts and he said all he was interested in was getting to the truth.
Then he stunned me by telling me that he had appointed Deputy Chief Dan Nolan to head the inquiry. I don't mean that in a negative way. Chief Nolan is probably one of the most, if not the most qualified Fire professional in the State of Connecticut and also in the Military through his military service to our Country.
Dan is not the right person to choose if you want to control the outcome of the message. One thing I have learned about Dan is that he doesn't normally think about the negative repercussions. The truth is the truth with him. You may not like what he is going to say, but he is going to say it to your face, no games, no cover-ups. I have a similar problem so I guess it might be an Irish trait.
I told Huertas I was surprised by his choice since there had been some bad blood between him and Nolan recently. He assured me that they had agreed to "bury the hatchet" and the Board of Inquiry was the start of a new working relationship between the two. "In fact, I am taking Dan out to lunch next week" Huertas told me to , I guess, convince me that him and Nolan could work together.
An October 9, 2014 email from Nolan to Huertas seems to start the reconciliation process. Nolan wrote to Huertas:
. "I know we have had our differences lately but we need to put
them behind us in order to provide the safest environment for the members of
this department, please advise me in what direction you would like my
involvement to this matter."
He said his instructions to Nolan were clear. Get to the truth wherever it goes, period. I told Huertas if that was in fact his goal, he had chosen the right guy.Numerous e-mails provided subsequent to an FOI request I made to the City seems to prove otherwise
Apparently that wasn't Huertas's intention though. The lunch never happened, communications between Nolan and Huertas broke down and Nolan was removed by Huertas as the Chairman of the Board of Inquiry. According to several sources, the Board of Inquiry has essentially been shut down. Individuals at City hall were not happy with the direction the investigation was taking and Nolan's attempts to get at the truth.
Deputy Chief Nolan was advised of his removal in an e-mail on November 9, 2014 from Huertas:
Deputy Chief Nolan,
Effective immediately You are no longer the Chair of the Board of
Inquiry.
You are still a member of the Board of Inquiry per Department
Directive 2.42
but I have reassigned that responsibility to Fire Marshal Roger
Martin.
One of those City Hall malcontents forcing Nolan's removal may have been Corporation Counsel Saundra Kee-Borges. Kee Borges has a vested interest in the outcome of the investigation as she is by many accounts romantically involved with the highest ranking HFD member at the scene of Bell's death, Acting Assistant Fire Chief Terry Waller . Waller is reported to have not followed HFD policy by neglecting to take command of the scene upon his arrival at the Fire as is normal policy. Did Waller's actions cause any behavior that led to Bell's death or the injuries of the other firefighters? We will probably never know without a thorough and legitimate inquiry.
In the e-mail below from Deputy Chief Nolan to Chief Huertas, Nolan apparently is asking to clarify conflicting messages he claims to be getting from Huertas. Nolan is questioning the function of the Board of Inquiry after Huertas apparently told him to "stand down" due to orders received by the Corporation Counsel. Why would the Corporation Counsel have any involvement in the Inquiry?
Was it to avoid possible embarrassment to the City or was she protecting her love interest?
A more troubling e-mail describes the lengths Kee-Borges would allegedly go to to advance Waller's career. In the e-mail from Nolan to Huertas a disturbing picture is painted of Kee-Borges using her authority to play politics with the Hartford Fire Department. Nolan wrote to Huertas the following:
Chief Huertas,
I can’t believe you would tell me to address my concerns with
Terry Waller. Have you forgotten the conversation I had with you and Leigh
Shapiro in your office a few months back, where you informed me that Mayor
Segarra and Saundra Borges were forcing you to make Terry Waller the
Assistant Chief or they would not make you the Chief of this department? You
then went on to tell me several stories of how incompetent Terry Waller has
been in his acting position of Assistant Chief. Now after sharing with me his
lack of intellect and abilities you expect me to address my concerns regarding
the life safety of our department members with him? How do you rationalize your
hypocrisy of addressing the safety of our firefighters directly to me by
pawning it off to someone you deemed inept as a leader?
I will not be contacting him regarding this grave concern for
you have made it clear to me that this is far beyond his capabilities. I have
tried to reach out the olive branch to you for the betterment and the safety of
our firefighters, you have in return have chosen to become my adversary and
refuse to interact with me directly as a competent leader would have.
I will be contacting OSHA directly on this matter, we will see
how you make out pawning Terry Waller on them
Sincerely,
D/C Dan Nolan
Much more to come on this I am sure, keep reading, this is only the beginning
28 comments:
Just when you think it can't get any worse. This behavior by Segarra and Borges is disgusting. When are they going to be held responsible for their abuses of their power. This City has so many positive developments happening right now. If only the government could get their shit straight and stop working against the momentum.
It's a safe bet that the City of Hartford will be served with a wrongful death lawsuit from the Bell family. If Kee Borges thinks she is going to pull off a cover-up she is delusional. This whole tragic situation is starting to implode. Hopefully it will be for the best.
Huerta should be fired. Or put in jail.
Unclear, if Nolan/Waller are really that important to getting to the bottom of this tragedy. The fire ground commanders may not have been as up to speed on department procedures as necessary, and LTs at the house may not have been making sure equipment was in proper order. This is really an organizational failure.
I am not going to be too quick to call for Huertas's ouster. I think that will just play into the ultimate plan of the puppetmaster, Saundra Kee-Borges and will pave the way for her to appoint Waller Chief of HFD, Doug Caldwell is probably a better choice.Her actions would go unopposed by the fearful, spineless Segarra. Fearful because she must have the goods on Segarra for him to tolerate her behavior for so long.
Carlos Huertas,
The blood of your firefighters is on your hands. Take a lesson from Nolan and get to the truth, Be a man of honor and not a puppet
The inmates are running the asylum.
Kevin, you should send this 12/5 'You Can't Handle The Truth' report to the US Attorney's office on Main St. as a complaint. If you're looking for the truth to come out in the tragic death of F/F Bell -and we should all look for the truth- then this is the right thing to do. Maybe after all these self interest, poisonous years, the city will be able to get rid itself of Kee Borges. Send her to jail, where she belongs, and it will save us all $220,000 - $230,000 a year. That's right, she brings home herself almost $20,000 A MONTH, but in reality she costs us much more. Caviar Segara will never dump her, she knows all the dirt he carries.
Anonymous 11:24 PM: Huertas cannot be a man, I believe he's scared to death of SKG. Saundra tells him what to do.
Why not make it simple, just appoint Waller to investigate... himself.
Great idea Anonymous 8:38am. What will be the conclusion of Terry Waller investigating Terry Waller?
Sadly to say even after brother Kevin Bells death firefighters who got hired within the last 5 years still play on there cell phones all day don't go over equipment and don't study there maps and bring there Sony PlayStation's and XBOX game consoles from home and play video games all day.Bring them to a fire and they can't even stretch an attack line or throw a ground ladder . City wants to hire by connections and not by experience or credentials.
Huertas has my vote of no confidence. Hit the road Jack. This guy is bipolar. He's on meds for it!! That's the truth;!!!
Terry thinks being Acting Assistant Chief is all about driving a nice city vehicle, wearing your dress uniform 7 days a week and hanging with the mayor.
Welcome back to reality. A firefighter has died on your watch, while you are the Acting Assistant Chief of the department. You cannot deny you were on the fireground the night of the fire. You were seen by lots of people and heard on the radio.
You don't get to choose which parts of the job you want or don't want. Your all in, like it or not.
When the hatchet falls and fault is exposed in the reports, and the lawsuits begin, your in deep.
Maybe you can sue Sandy for getting you that job by claiming you didn't want it, she made you take it! hahahaha, your screwed.
Soon terry will be in full command. The wheels are in motion. Huertas is leaving. Terry will be numero uno round here. I told all of you. U laugh. But the truth hurts sometimes, so be careful what u wish for.
Terry will handle all of you shortly .....
Has any law enforcement agency at the state or federal level been made aware of the situation in Hartford? Are there any high level law enforcement people in the Hartford area? If so, they have not been very interested, why is this? Could it be that none of this is illegal? Borges is a lawyer, she dances on the line while running the HFD into the ground. Charlie you have no balls and soon you will have no job. Terry, no one wants your incompetant foolishness at HFD. Both Charlie and Terry should go..enough lies..and take that wet clown Helene with you..
This all may be a mute point once the toxicology results are released.
Tic Tac Toe Terry is back. What do you think of a moron chosen as the next HFD chief? Watch out Carlos, watch your back, mayor caviar and Sandy are cooking something especially for you
Dont you love Terrys new scam? Every time a Hartford resident burns a pot the Assistant Chief responds. How much OT has Terry gained with this scam. I have been around for over a decade and never seen an AC respond to so many minor incidents. The OT for Terry Waller is costing the city hundreds of dollars per week extra with no benefit to anyone other than Terry. Terry must retire, he is considered a joke in this department and I will never follow any of his orders.
Anonymous 2:26 PM,
Maybe food on the stove fires are the level he feels comfortable supervising. Hasn't he already shown he wasn't too good at the larger fires when he appears to have been afraid to take command. I bet he didn't put in for OT on that one so there would be no paper trail of his presence
Tic tac toe,
I don't think there are too many people that didn't realize that from the start. Since Terry was barely qualified to be a firefighter considering his experience, SKB knew she couldn't just slide him in as Chief so make him an Assistant bide his time until they could force Huertas out and make Terry Chief
Waller, Segarra, Huertas and Borges would look great in prison chains
... And Wooden as well.
Hey isn't funny that chief 760 D tour took a sick day when all this came out. Since towey tac 760 he's been on the Job about 1/2 the time. Union business look it up.its the Walsh and Brady era all over.id rather follow a guy with five years on the job who has balls than someone who backed footed their way to the top.
There is a common theme among all the urban departments in Connecticut, compare and contrast New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport and you will see they are overrun with incompetence, ineptitude and race politics. New Haven and Hartford are led by Fire Chiefs that have advanced training in buffoonery. Unfortunately the situation in Hartford has been exacerbated by the death of a fireman, or is this a chicken or the egg syndrome. if nolan cannot be trusted to conduct an impartial investigation into the death, than nobody can. Somebody is hiding something here.
As someone said earlier, have Terry Waller investigate Terry Waller.
Keep pulling at the strings and it will all unravel. Waller is going ruin this Dept. kudos for Lt Nolan for bringing issues to light I would hope the Courant or Television would expose this SKB/Waller/Segara incest but that would be asking for too much !! Keep pulling Kev, keep pulling !!
I'm trying, Thanks
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