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Tuesday, December 9, 2014

THE BATTLING HFD LIEUTENANTS, THE POLICE VERSION

The Hartford Police report is out regarding the two Hartford fire lieutenants fighting last weekend. The report seems to clearly show Lt Tyson as the aggressor after striking out at Lt. Cunningham not once but twice and then putting Cunningham in a headlock type choke hold. If zero tolerance truly means zero tolerance, it will be interesting to see how this incident will continue to be swept under the rug. Hartford apparently has a "Zero Tolerance Policy" for violence in the workplace

Sunday, December 7, 2014

MORE ON THE DUELING HFD LIEUTENANTS

HFD Fire Lieutenant Tyson , left, LT Cunningham, Right, in the basement of 16 Chatham St. Hartford
 
 
Let's recap the incident first, here is the official HPD version:

On December 6, 2014 at 11:56am, the Hartford Fire Department was dispatched to 16 Chatham Street for a working fire. Following the fire, at 1:40pm a Hartford Police Officer was dispatched to the Fire House at 25 Blue Hills Ave. on a report of a disturbance between two Hartford Fire Department Lieutenants. 

The incident involves a reported altercation between the two lieutenants at the 16 Chatham Street fire scene. Both the involved Lieutenants and a witness (HFD employee) were interviewed.  Neither of the parties involved wished to press charges. The incident was not in public view.  There were no reported injuries.  The HPD officer documented the incident and his actions. This report will be available through the FOI process. HPD Case# 14-39394.

HFD Chief Carlos Huertas offered the following comment:
“We are a Fire Department as well as a family. The women and men of this department are performing a very technical and dangerous job during the most difficult and stressful of times. Today’s incident only proves that our brave firefighters are human. Rest assure, we will examine this incident and take appropriate action to ensure public safety"
 
I already wrote some of my initial thoughts on the incident immediately after it happened, but the more I thought about it overnight, the more aggravated I was by these so called "professionals" and their behavior. More importantly though was my disappointment and disgust with the explanation given by Hartford Fire Chief Carlos Huertas.
 
According to HPD's Deputy Chief Brian Foley's release:
 
HFD Chief Carlos Huertas offered the following comment:
“We are a Fire Department as well as a family. The women and men of this department are performing a very technical and dangerous job during the most difficult and stressful of times. Today’s incident only proves that our brave firefighters are human. Rest assure, we will examine this incident and take appropriate action to ensure public safety"
 
There doesn't seem to be any upset, it doesn't seem to bother Huertas that two ranking members of his Department were fighting at a Fire scene. That two of his "officers" have just embarrassed all other members of His department who have had more than their share of embarrassing news coverage recently, but I guess it is no big deal to Huertas ( Most likely they will have plenty more as things unfold over the next weeks and possibly months)
 
To seem to explain this as a minor family type squabble is insensitive and offensive to every victim of domestic violence. Chief, when family members punch another family member in the head and then put them in a headlock trying to choke them out, that is called Domestic Violence and the aggressor gets arrested and protective orders are issued whether they are having a "stressful" time or not. They aren't defined as minor firehouse wrestling matches, they are dealt with by the Police and the Courts as the serious incidents they are.
 
It is no wonder why your Department members that have been making the news  who seem to think they are above the law. You are setting the tone for them.  They probably feel that professionally  there will be no repercussions for their bad behavior . Whether it is shooting a friend in the head while intoxicated  or driving drunk at almost 3 times over the limit and causing and then fleeing  from an accident, Don't Worry, Chief  Huertas has your back.

We deserve far better when we dial 911 for help. Not the basement version of human "Rock em  Sock em Robots"
 
Oh and lets not forget who is really running HFD, their Union. The fact that two of the Unions Executive Board members are now on administrative  suspension over their bad acts should not escape the attention of anyone. Lt. Tyson , who from all sources I spoke to about the fighting incident was the aggressor in yesterdays fight , and has been while on the job with similar incidents in the past and Firefighter Vendetti was the alleged drunk driver that caused the Farmington accident and was arrested . They both serve on the HFD Union Executive Board.
 
And lets not forget that the Union President apparently ran interference for the firefighter, Douglas Caldwell who eventually resigned after his drunken scandals while on duty.That was another proud moment for the Department and should have been dealt with immediately if the Department had a strong leader. Instead the Union protected Caldwell and ran interference for him, until their hand was forced when the behavior was exposed here on this blog. You can read that initial posting here. You can read much more about Caldwell by entering "Caldwell" in the search box at the top of the blog.

I know that there are some great firefighters that aren't thrilled  about having their dirty laundry exposed here  and in the media, but they aren't the problem causing this.  The self respecting members of HFD who do their jobs day in and day out deserve our respect and appreciation. But you also have the power to set the tone for your Department. You should be calling for the Chief  to stand up and run your Department, not the puppetmaster at City Hall .

You should be loud and clear about calling for the appointment of an Assistant Chief who is deserving of the position.You should also demand that your Union Executive Board represents you and your professional standards. Insist that they stop supporting  bad firefighters and bad behavior, and if they are part of that bad behavior that is embarrassing the rest of you force a recall or resignations . Set the tone, please . The residents of Hartford are counting on you.

In the mean time Chief Huertas stop condoning this reprehensible behavior. Stop supporting those that are embarrassing you and start supporting those that are willing to work with you and clean things up, they aren't your enemies. There are people that have a long and proud  tradition with HFD and aren't there for just ego's and paychecks. I think you know that SKB or Mayor Segarra don't have your best interests  and success at heart and the sooner you stand up to that the better you and all the good members of the Hartford Fire Department  that are counting on you and your leadership to remain safe and succeed. And maybe an apology to victims of Domestic Violence that you seemed to trivialize might be in order

Let me use the words you use at the end of your e-mails Chief, "Be impeccable with your word, don't take anything personally, Don't make assumptions. Always do your best".  Chief, can you say you are doing that or does it just look good on your e-mails?

 

Saturday, December 6, 2014

MORE EXCUSES FOR BAD BEHAVIOR

What is going on at HFD?

The following statement was received from the Hartford Police department late this afternoon after an incident involving two Hartford Lieutenants at a fire scene at 16 Chatham Street:


On December 6, 2014 at 11:56am, the Hartford Fire Department was dispatched to 16 Chatham Street for a working fire. Following the fire, at 1:40pm a Hartford Police Officer was dispatched to the Fire House at 25 Blue Hills Ave. on a report of a disturbance between two Hartford Fire Department Lieutenants.

 

The incident involves a reported altercation between the two lieutenants at the 16 Chatham Street fire scene. Both the involved Lieutenants and a witness (HFD employee) were interviewed.  Neither of the parties involved wished to press charges. The incident was not in public view.  There were no reported injuries.  The HPD officer documented the incident and his actions. This report will be available through the FOI process. HPD Case# 14-39394.



HFD Chief Carlos Huertas offered the following comment:

“We are a Fire Department as well as a family. The women and men of this department are performing a very technical and dangerous job during the most difficult and stressful of times. Today’s incident only proves that our brave firefighters are human. Rest assure, we will examine this incident and take appropriate action to ensure public safety"

 Chief Huertas, stop making excuses for your Department's childish behavior. Insist that they act like the well paid professionals that the residents of Hartford expect. To the best of my knowledge, the City of Hartford claims to have a zero tolerance policy for work place violence. Enforce it.
 
I am told that this is not the first incident of Lt. Tyson using violence against a coworker. If he struck Lt Cunningham hard enough to knock his helmet off, that is a violent act that you need to deal with. How long can HPD's PIO be counted on to bail you out with these releases.
 
And did Waller put in for his overtime to be your shadow at this incident? Did you really need him there sucking up your valuable overtime hours to tell you what to do?
 
Chief  Huertas, step up and run your department. Don't give the puppetmaster the reason to run you out of 253 High Street.

LIFE SAFETY CAN NOT BE TAKEN LIGHTLY

"Life Safety can not be taken lightly". More prophetic words have probably never been written in a Hartford Fire department incident report. Those words were written by Hartford Fire Department LT. John Nolan on October 5, 2014 in a "HFD Fire Service Report". A fire service report is the term HFD uses for its regular incident reports. Nolan's Fire Service report was written just 2 days before the Blue Hills fire in which Hartford Firefighter Kevin Bell was found dead. No cause for Bells death has been determined as of this time as the Connecticut Medical Examiner awaits toxicology results of testing on Bell's body. There were apparently no visible signs of trauma, heart disease or burns  or life ending damage uncovered during Bell's autopsy

According to sources, Bell was still wearing his Scott Air pack and air mask when his unresponsive body was found almost 10 minutes after he went missing inside the burning building.

Now more questions arise as to what went wrong and what contributed to Bells death. One issue that may have contributed  to Bells death was the condition of the thermal imager used on Engine 16. In e-mails obtained through an FOI request to HFD, it appears that 16's imager was not working properly at the time of the fire. An e-mail sent to Acting Assistant Chief Terry Waller stated on September 24 that the imager  "is an issue and needs repair " the e-mail does not indicate if Waller took any corrective action or responded to replace or repair the unit. One source familiar with HFD operations told me that normally the imager would have been with the Engines Lieutenant  in which case he would have located Bells body within seconds, not almost 10 minutes. In fairness, it is unknown if that delay would have made a difference in Bell's survival. The autopsy apparently, according to sources, did not show any signs of damage, asphyxiation or smoke in Bell's lungs.

Another issue has revolved around Bells air supply. Did he run out of air? In the fire service report below, LT. Nolan reportedly found 2 empty Scott Air tanks on engine 16, amongst other deficiencies that were life safety issues. If a firefighter were to grab an empty or partially filled air tank, that would affect the time they would safely have inside a structure fire breathing the tank air, rather than a full half hour they might only have minutes or less. There is an alarm on the tank that would sound after the tank pressure drops to about 5 minutes or less so the so the users lack of air would be warned first. Bells tank is currently being tested for any deficiencies by an outside agency.

After receiving Nolan's Fire Service Report via e-mail, Huertas instructed Acting Assistant  Chief Waller to look into "this egregious behavior " immediately. Waller acknowledged Huertas "immediate request" the following day . There is no indication as to what action was taken or what Waller did. According to sources, the extent of Waller's actions  to correct the problems at Engine 16 was to disparage and discredit Nolan for apparently "throwing another Lieutenant under the bus" by reporting the life threatening deficiencies to Chief Huertas.

 There is no record of any retraining or discipline for anyone at engine 16 for the incident.

Nolan's Fire Service speaks for itself but it is interesting to note that Waller , apparently, chose not to take any action against the pump operator or anyone else involved in stating that the apparatus was fit for service when it clearly was not

And if you recognize the name of Lt Gregory Simon that Nolan mentions in his fire service report, this may be why. Simon has been the subject of several postings here on the blog after his stellar representation as a member and an officer of the Hartford Fire Department. Read more here or here about LT Simon, an excellent role model for new firefighters. Or even more here



BOARD OF INQUIRY PROCEDURE E-MAIL


THE HUERTAS FOI E-MAILS

 
 
I have received a few calls and e-mails from readers asking me to post the full e-mail strings.Apparently it is difficult to follow the e-mails without readers being able to follow the full conversation. It will take a little more work to print and then scan the e-mails, to be able to post them,  but here you go.