STATter 911

WOW! I thought stupid stuff like this only happened in PG County and only by VOLUNTEER Firefighters.

I think this proves that Volunteer or Career makes no difference on how the human mind works and how humans perform or react to ideas their minds develop.

We are all to be held to higher standards, and while I don't disagree with this concept I think it is important to remember that Career or Volunteer again we are all humans and sometimes make mistakes and do stupid things.

The incident seems innocent in concept, they just didn't look at a bigger picture which is many times the case. I don't think it was done with malice.

I hope this doesn't get blown out of proportion as many things many times do.

A Vounteer FF
 

Well lets look at this article closely. Internal investigations leads to cover ups in the fire service thats the first problem, cause if you would not have gotten wind of it i bet it would be swept under the rugg. Second they should have a training facility to do live burns not out back of the station. Third if its open to the public thats "OPEN BURNING" which we are under a ban and need a permit. Fourth the dumpster is not arlington counties according to the video, so is that not ARSON. Fifth the FIRE MARSHAL that was there doesn't he have a duty to act in a situation like that. They only took his arresting powers what about HIS JOB. How bout this pres. of local 2800 if you feel that way try this on for size CPR IN PROGRESS IN YOUR FIRST RESPONSE AREA AND YOU NEED TO SEND THE NEXT DUE ENGINE OR RESCUE HOW MUCH OF A DELAY DOES THAT CREATE FOR THE PERSON IN NEEED. If it was your avarage joe blow citizen he would be faceing a CLASS 6 Felony charge.
 

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
 

As a member of this department, I must say I am totally shocked that we have sunken down to the same level as the FDNY.... The last post was right it probally will be covered up and forgotten as I have seen it happen enough. This is a serious matter and needs to be handeled and not forgotten.... If this was just a regular firefighter they would lose thier job and be facing charges. As an officer and a Fire Marshal you must be held to higher standards and be held accountable. Us younger members are supposed to look up to you and learn from you. I hope the cheifs and the investigators will look into this and dish out the right punishments. An arrest needs to be made by the law and charges made. The officers need to lose their rank and not just down to a LT they need to be busted down to a Firefighter so they are out of a position of power... That is if they still have a job which in my opinion they should lose their job. Like the last post said what if another call came in and a life depended on that unit responding. Better yet what if the Firefighters got hurt fighting this fire did you think about that....I am very dissapointed to hear about this happening and I hope that the public will not hold this against all of us who work our tails off to serve this great County thanks to a few bad seeds who I will no longer ever trust.
 

As a senior member of this department I am disgusted by the extraordinary effort I am sure will be put forth in an attempt to cover up this incident.

Civilians have been arrested, prosecuted and jailed in Arlington County for this exact same offense. By putting a label of "training" on the live fire that is a violation of state law and county ordinances does not whitewash it and absolve the involved parties of their responsibility.

If the captain wanted to train his fire fighters he knows where to go. The training facility in Arlington is built for this very situation, with a dumpter, that can be set on fire AFTER going through the proper channels and chain of command.
 

Clearly this wasn't a smart decision. However, with the problems this Department is facing, I really hope that we don't get caught up in making this a big deal. There are many more issues that need to be resolved such as EMS staffing, retirement benefits, and low pay.
Maybe those who made this decision should lose a few vacation hours. But as a firefighter of the ACFD, I am MUCH more concerned about the issues listed above than I am about a dumpster fire.
 

Cover up?? Typical Arlington CO Fire Dept!

Why should they get fired when you have a Chief stealing overtime money from the County. Cover up what else is new.
 

Thank You Dave Statter for posting this blog! I am sure you could read between the lines when you interviewed the chiefs thus the reason for you posting this blog. Too bad it didn't make the news, it is definately WORTHY of the news. This is a TYPICAL Arlington County cover up!!! This was NOT a training exercise..it was arson!! Let's call it what it is. I am sure the person who was arrested and jailed for setting off dumpster fires wouldn't appreciate knowing that just because you are a fire CAPTAIN it is acceptable to do this. The public should know! Let's put it out and see what the citizens, those we serve think? We haven't learned yet, isn't this similar to FM Cooper arresting people for years with no certifications? Arlington is asking for a lawsuit! You can't keep covering it up Chief! First of all the dumpster DOES NOT belong to Arlington so I think that would constitute the burning of personal property ,right Chief Saulnier?? You use to be the Chief Fire Marshal right? This is a violation of state and local codes right chief? It's OK, you can look it up if you are not sure!! Secondly, what about the citizens who WERE in jeopardy Union President Staples? How can they respond to a real emergency ie heart attack, CPR in progress, house fire etc if they are taking the time to put out a dumster fire at the station? There would have been a huge delay..first of all the tank would have to be refilled and how long does that take?? There is NO way you can say there would not have been a delay. Furthermore, I hope that tree that caught on fire wasn't one of the tress dedicated and planted after 9/11 was it??? That's definately NEWS WORTHY DAVE!!! Third, the fire marshal who placed him in cuffs and abused his police powers had a 'DUTY TO ACT' The statement to make the drill more realistic only confirms that all parties involved, the captain who set the dumpster on fire and the fire marshal, knew that this act is punishable by arresting and jail time right? On to the cover up..who did the investigation? Who took a statement? The Battalion Chief Cover Up Team? That's a joke! What about the fire marshal's office and the current Chief Fire Marshal, did they have any part in the investigation? Now what?? Will he get a day of vacation taken so he can go set off some more? Speaking of which has anyone checked to see if he was off work all the days we had suspcious dumpster fires in Falls Church?? He deserves to be demoted!! Others have been fired for less!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chief Schwartz needs to take a stand on this one, the "troops are counting on it!"
 

This fire marshall needs his police powers taken away forever. As a member of this department, the county really needs to take a look at the fire marshall's office and take these guns away from these investigators. We really don't have that many arsons in the county. We can get the county police to make the arrest.
 

The comments posted here make some good points, but lets not miss the bigger picture; there is a general lack of respect for senior leadership in the ACFD. Senior leaders have earned this through years of bad decision making, lack of accountability and absence of discipline. We need change -- our lives and those of the community depend on it!

Who watches the watchers? Who is the fire chief accountable to? On paper, it's the county manager but Mr. Carlee hasn't been very involved in the fire department from what I can tell. We need an independent investigation of the entire department by someone who is not affiliated with the Arlington County Government or Arlington County Fire Department. If the Fire Chief is really committed to having a first class organization then he should be willing to seek independent opinions even if it opens his organization to public scrutiny.
 

An ACFD Battalion Chief recently posted an intradepartment email showing his distaste for the comments posted on the dumpster arson article. They are deemed to be damaging and embarrassing to the department in his opinion. The only thing I see emabarrasing is the act of arson itself. What ever happened to freedom of speech. Dave- there is a real issue of non accountability in the ACFD. Officers routinely make bad judgements that only result in a slap on the hand. If this had been two fire fighters who lit off the dumpster they would have been severely punished or fired. We'll see what happens.
 

Of course I would be interested in seeing that intradepartmental email.

My understanding when I left this story is that the captains were still on full duty and the FM had his police powers pulled while this is investigated.

Has this changed any?

Anyone who has some answers feel free to call at 202 487 5678 or write at dstatter@wusa9.com.

Statter
 

Please use Spell Check. You are making the Department look illiterate.
 

Get real people!! This was just a dumb mistake. The world will not fall apart. You need to redirect your energy to the retirement and health care issues which you will not have if you don't pay attention.
 

Get real! Let it go. The fire chief has to deal with it. This is the kind of people he wants to promote
 

Hey Folks, I guess we can all agree this situation is a major,"Awww man, what the world was I thinking"? Are we all so good at what we do that we never say this to ourselves? I read several items in these blogs that have merit such as, the big picture was ignored by the Officer and FM involved, Allow the investigation team to handle this situation, and pay attention to the retirement benefits. I read several other blogs posted by Fire Fighter Anonymous where the big picture has been thrown out the window. There have been many items listed which to say the least are embarrassing not only to Management, but to every employee in the Fire Department. What is listed here in this public forum is now reality. It is easy to sit back and accuse Senior Management of all sorts of short comings when you are sitting at a key board anonymously. Although I did not always agree with then Lieutenant Schwartz, I can assure you Chief Schwartz does not go to bed each night wondering how he can embarrass his Fire Department the next day. Did some of you think about this before you posted your blogs. Now that I have this out of my system, Let me give a little advice. Be thankful that you chose a career with Arlington County, believe me, there are allot worse places to work. Be thankful you chose a career where you can make a difference in a someone's life everyday. If you think you have observed a mistake made by a fellow employee, study it! Learn from it! Work together! Make positive changes where you can better serve the fine citizens of Arlington County. Oh yea, one more thing. If you have the conviction to put your thoughts to letter. Validate yourself and sign your name to it!

Captain Paul H. McGuire (retired)
 

Worry about benefits?, Worry about retirement?? Yes I do worry about them... But these things have no bearing within this topic at the moment. The topic is about an officer and a FM who made a really bad decision and needs to pay the price by the LAW.... This is arson and nothing else.. The captain needs to be fired and put in jail.. There is a guy sitting in jail right now because he set dumpster's on fire. Is that fair just because we wear a uniform and have a rank...NO!!! Our SOP's and the LAW have this written out clearly. This was premeditated with intent. They new what they were doing and they knew the SOP's and the law. They completely disrespected and disregarded them. So how much longer are we going to drag this on..Now, you want to talk about benefits and retirement... When we ask for things from the County and we have officers who act like this do you really think they are going to help us out... NO! they are not.
So you want to try to down play this situation by throwing benefits and things into this topic go ahead but as far as I am concerned that just makes you no better than those involved if you approve of their choice they made. I for one will never trust them or respect them.
 

Hey guys I've been looking at all the blogs, I agree with some of them, and disagree with others. I think we shouldn't expect the right action to take place, as mentioned before, in the ACFD it is all about a popularity contest. I think the biggest problem that we have is that so called FIRE CHIEF, maybe he should be running for president, because he is a great politisian, not so great as a FIRE CHIEF. Lets all hope he will retire soon. Look what he is doing to EMS, he calls it MAKING IT BETTER FOR EMS, EMS providers call it SCREWING EMS. SORRY that should be a diffrent blog.
 

To all of you that have been given the opportunity to have a non-welfare check job, stop b*@#hing! Weak minds love negativity, so think it through. If you don’t like where you are, go be somewhere else. P-willys hiring. There you will only deal with the volunteers who own your equipment, station and even your thoughts, or maybe construction. That’s better, right? There’s always the military too, of course most of you don’t have what it takes for that-COMMITMENT. All that said, just shut up and stop embarrassing our department any further.
 

WOW, it seems that the investigation is all over now and as far as I can tell, The Captain is still a captain and the FM will be getting his police power back. No lose of Rank or suspension. Well I guess we just set the standard once again in Arlington, VA. that if you are an officer you can do whatever you want and not get in trouble. What they do??? take some leave away and have to pay a small fine which they will make up in OT anyway??? Well I for one am disgusted by this and very disappointed in the higher ups on this one. If it was any other FF or Civilian they would be in jail and without a job.way to go on setting the example.