Florida Firefighters Skip Alarm, Lose Jobs

NORTH PORT, Fla. - Two southwest Florida firefighters have lost their jobs after a lieutenant allegedly skipped an emergency medical call to coach a soccer game.

The North Port Fire Department found that Lt. Robert Combs violated department policy by taking a ladder truck to a soccer match, skipping an emergency call and pressuring other firefighters to cover for him.

Combs resigned on Thursday. Another firefighter was fired for helping him.

Details about the emergency call on Nov. 21 were not disclosed, but there were reportedly enough emergency workers to handle the situation.

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Two North Port firefighters out of jobs after a call was skipped

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Permalink Reply by Derek R. on December 10, 2009 at 5:02pm

looks like " MR. MURPHY" showed up to watch the soccer game as well.
That was pretty crappy of him to call a meeting to intimidate the rest of the guys. Own up to your mistakes.

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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on December 10, 2009 at 5:34pm

If you go to the Herald Tribune link, the comments from the locals were NOT very kind.
Yeah; there was another newspaper who wrote about it. I tried to get it, but it was more than 7 days old, so I would have to join the site and pay for the privilege.
I'll stick with what I have.
I am shocked that someone hasn't come in with "hey; they are allowed to drive them to the grocery store while on duty". Yeah; and there is a good reason for that.
Next.