STATter 911: STATter 911 exclusive: Report says DC Fire lieutenant "was not truthful". Claims "Cowboy" actions jeopardized lives. Read entire report.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

STATter 911 exclusive: Report says DC Fire lieutenant "was not truthful". Claims "Cowboy" actions jeopardized lives. Read entire report.

Read the entire report from DC Fire & EMS

Watch Nancy Yamada's December 18 story with Lt. Burton

When DC Fire and EMS Lieutenant Gerald Burton told his story to the news media in mid-December, his department declined to respond, saying it was a personnel matter. Now, a 3-page report prepared by a top ranking fire official and obtained by STATter 911 disputes many of the claims made by Lt. Burton.

The report, written by Assistant Chief of Operations Lawrence Shultz, says that Burton "disobeyed a direct lawful order, failed to secure an independent water supply and placed Engine 9 directly behind Truck 4 which prohibited them from using their ground ladders." It also found the veteran firefighter "was not truthful in preparing an official District of Columbia report."

The report was prepared on December 20, 2007 for D.C. Fire/EMS Chief Dennis Rubin. STATter 911 obtained it through a Freedom of Information Act request. The report, while clearly referring to Lt. Burton, was released with his name crossed out.

The incident stems from a November house fire in the 1800 block of 2nd Street, NW. Lt. Burton claims he was on his way to a training drill with the crew from Engine 9 when a run was dispatched for a nearby house fire. When he called on the radio, Burton says he was told to disregard the fire, as there were other crews responding. As he continued on his way, Burton says frantic citizens flagged him down, asking for his assistance with the fire.

On December 18, Lt. Burton told 9NEWS NOW, "I don't know if someone's trapped, if there's a baby trapped inside."

When he called by radio to the battalion chief responding to the call, Burton says he was told to be the back-up to another engine and take the third-due position. But Burton claimed the first-due engine hadn't arrived yet. So he made the split-second decision to pull out the hoses and fight the fire.

Lt. Burton spoke out to the media after he was officially informed by the department that he was under investigation and facing 2 days unpaid suspension for defying his supervisor's order.

The finished report disputes many of Lt. Burton's claims. Among them, that he was flagged down by citizens. The report states, "A review of the AVL system (this system indicates speed and location of all apparatus, to include apparatus stops as 0mph) indicates that Engine 9's speed went from 35 mph to 15 mph as it turned left on 2nd Street. There was no point or time where the speed of Engine 9 was reduced to below 15 mph. It would seem impossible and unlikely for Burton to have stopped his fire engine to talk to a citizen as he has reported in many media interviews."

The report also disputes Lt. Burton's contention that he did not have time to wait for another engine before he began fighting the fire. It finds that Engine 6 (first-due) arrived 28 seconds after Engine 9, followed 21 seconds later by Engine 12. Engine 26 was on-the-scene 1 minute and 38 seconds after Engine 9. Truck 4 arrived before any of the engine companies, including Engine 9.

The report concludes, "There was no delay of arriving resources and the 28 second unauthorized pre-arrival of Engine 9 potentially created a situation of much more 'risk' than 'benefit'. Combine this confusion with the failure to follow operational policy and you can quickly see just how Lt. Burton placed many lives in jeopardy with his 'cowboy' actions."

The report further states, "When one unit does not follow Departmental Standard Operating Guidelines, this causes confusion, improper fire ground operations and assignments that may adversely effect an entire operation."

Lt. Burton was found "guilty" and will be suspended for 48 hours. The report claims Lt. Burton has "refused this penalty which he is at liberty to accept or not accept, thus the next step will be a 'Formal Hearing' by a completely different Battalion Chief."

A phone call to Lt. Burton's lawyer, seeking comment about the findings, has yet to be returned.

9NEWS NOW reporter Nancy Yamada assisted with this report

# posted by Dave Statter @ 7:17 PM

Comments:

"Engine 6 (first-due) arrived 28 seconds after Engine 9". 28 seconds?! With a well trained, aggressive firefighting team such as in DC, that's enough time to stretch a line, charge it, and force your way into the house. That was enough time to make a possitive difference in the outcome. Shame on DC. The Lt. should be commended.

# posted by

Anonymous : January 11, 2008 6:26 AM

I think the findings in the report tell a different story, with documentation to back it up. What does the crew on E-9 have to say???? "COWBOY"

# posted by

Anonymous : January 11, 2008 12:41 PM

It is true an aggressive,well trained, and disciplined crew did extiguish the fire; E6.
Burton screwed up and thought he could win out w/ B.S. & bluster, istead all he did was embarrass the dept.

# posted by

cromwell : January 11, 2008 3:51 PM

This clown didn't embarass anyone but himself.It makes him look like he is untrustworthy. Maybe a demotion is in line. Who wants to work for a Lying Lieutenant. The department looks good after this. Dennis Rubin is taking no BS. The department should bring up charges against him for going to the media and lying about the department. SHAME ON HIM!!

# posted by

Anonymous : January 11, 2008 5:41 PM

At first everyone commended this man for being aggresive and doing what he was trained to do, but now that the truth is out he looks like an untrust-worthy glory hound. Maybe he should sign up at Kentland like all the other scab glory boys, he would fit right in the home of glory land, (PGFD)instead of a well disciplined and trained DCFD.

# posted by

Anonymous : January 11, 2008 7:43 PM

Filing a FALSE statement should be grounds for DISMISSAL....
The technology will hang your dumb ass in the End....Tell the freakin truth....

# posted by

"Old Fart" Fire and rescue tech : January 11, 2008 9:32 PM

What?? Know one has ever lied to cover something up!! Come on guys!! I know I have !!!!

# posted by

Watchcommander : January 12, 2008 8:17 AM

Consider the AVL. Who says you have to come to a complete stop to be waved down by civilians. He already knew of the fire AND it's location. It is entirely probable that people indeed were flagging them down. Any department's policy should be that the closest units should be dispatched. Clearly he was closest. Another thing is the arrival times. With MDC's on units it would not surprise me if the officer on the next arriving engine hit his on scene key halfway down the block. That 28 seconds more than likely does not reflect that 2nd engine stopped, parked and in pump gear. You may not like the fact that the officer lied, but he did the right thing in his service to D.C.. Training is important and needed, but his first priority is to fight fire and save lives. Remember: "he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone."

# posted by

GRACEBELIEVER : January 12, 2008 11:35 AM

He is still one of our brothers. Lets take care of this in-house and not online or in the press like he did. Enough damage has been done publicly. We will all continue to respond and fight fires the way we do regardless of anything that has come from this. Just be safe and watch out for each other!

# posted by

Rescue1 : January 13, 2008 12:24 PM

It's a little late for that. We can thank Burton for that one. He needs to take his medicine and get over it.

# posted by

Anonymous : January 13, 2008 2:56 PM

As a 22 year member of a midwest city department with around 300,000 residents I am perplexed by this story. What don't we know? Officers on our department would be disciplined if they were enroute to training and DID NOT put their Engine on the call. Real incidents always have priority over training, always. As a previous poster stated, alot can be done in 30 seconds that will have significant impact on an incident. Company officers are paid to make decision when they are on scene in absence of a incident commander. How does a Chief give orders when there not on scene? Not done in any text books or on any firegrounds I've seen. Like I said earlier, I'm perplexed. So, again I ask, What don't we know about this incident and the individuals involved?

# posted by

Midwest Firefighter : January 13, 2008 6:41 PM

Obviously Midwest, what you don’t know is how a Fireground is run. The Incident Commander runs the Fireground. He takes the info from the Company Officer and puts into play the game plan, on scene or not. That is why the proper on scene size up is so critical.
Let’s look at the problems that this Officer caused.
#1. Disobeyed a Direct Order – Like it or not, there are rules to follow.
#2. Placed other Companies in danger not to mention his own crew, by “Freelancing,”
#3. Caused confusion to other Companies by just “showing up”.
#4. Blocked access to the rear of the Truck Co. placing the ground ladders Out Of Service.
#5. Failed to establish a water supply once he decided he was going to do his own thing.
Let’s look at the lies told by this Officer.
#1. His location.
#2. Being flagged down by a citizen.
#3. Putting out the fire.
#4. Being the 1st unit to arrive.
#5. Saving the day.

# posted by

Anonymous : January 14, 2008 6:57 AM

I know that Lt Burton, being a member of the "snoop squad" in the past, alot of the members dislike him. "Lets be realistic".

The fire was in E-6 T-4's first due, the responding Chief is from where? T-4. Does he want his crew to get the fire? Of course.

Do we hit the on scene button when we are approaching the scene or when we come to a stop?

28 seconds is a "long time" when something is burning. 28 seconds to get on the scene , how long to get the pumps in and get in service.

We all have seen how the administration manipulates the truth to have them seem like they are doing the right thing.

How many times have we heard the 4th Battalion companies tell the BFC what they are going to do, insted of asking? Example: Why was Engine 11 attacking the fire on Veazey Terrace, when they were assigned to exposures?

Lt Burton, unfortunately did what we as emergency responders are trained to do, respond to an emergency. Why is he being punished? I do not know, but I have seen the AVL report, and it is not consistant with the report that the department is saying.

It shows E-9 on scene and stopped before other units arrive. Could Truck 4 have swung the truck in front of E-9? It is a tiller rig?

When we see smoke in the sky, and people frantic and waving, how many times do we actually come to a complete stop and talk to those people? Never. What do we do, we follow the universal hand signals, which is something "WE ALL" do.
Just something to think about...

Why is the AFO-O trying to fry one fish...I thought discipline was for positive change and not suppose to be punitive...is this?

# posted by

Anonymous : January 15, 2008 12:07 PM

OMG...please read the three page Special Report from Chief Schultz to the Fire Chief...

This is disgraceful!! Schultz..."DO NOT TYPE ANOTHER SPECIAL REPORT!" Get a proof reader and a spell checker!

And stop "Brian Lee"ing the Fire Chief!!!

"Chief Like you said in your Rubes Rules, SOGs are to be followed".
Did you follow them when you were out in the "real world"? HELL NO!!!

Did "Lying Brian", NO...if he did How did his crew manage to flip Squad 3 onto its side at Good Hope and MLK, oh...I forgot that was suppose to be something we keep under the rug, along with that recent Promotion List...

Promote, then send them to a training class so they appear qualified for the position, or how about the unfunded positions that we have Officers sitting in?

How come most if not all of the promotions to Chief are people from Special Ops, or have a connection to the Special Op's AFC's. When we have Chief with Master Degree's getting passed over.

You guys need to be ashamed of yourselves. Lt Burton is far from a "Saint", but to call into question his credibility...WOW thats like looking into a mirror..

You need to suspend yourself, and take the other Special Ops AFC (Rubes Lapdog) with you. We need "credible, qualified, and fair people running this agency.
Do away with the "Good ole boy network, or as your old friend are calling it...

FOOLS
(F)riends (O)f (O)peration (L)arry (S)chultz.

# posted by

Anonymous : January 15, 2008 1:04 PM

"Obviously Midwest, what you don’t know is how a Fire ground is run."

To the poster of this comment, when you get done with second grade(don't mean to offend any 2nd graders) and actually become a "Professional" Firefighter then try to leave educated comments. All recognized incident command systems state the first arriving officer should establish command or pass command to the next arriving unit. Command is properly transferred after the passing of information and assumption of command. Not your system... Oh... hey... I'm some hillbilly in my chief car 3 mile from the fire but I'm still in charge!!! Might be the way you do it but not the way 90% of the country does it. Hop on your bike and catch up.

# posted by

Midwest FF : January 21, 2008 12:05 PM