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Georgia Family Wants Apology from Fire Department
MASHAUN D. SIMON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An apology. That's what the family of an elderly woman who died in a Dunwoody house fire early Sunday morning wants from DeKalb County and fire department officials.
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Five hours later, after a neighbor called, firefighters returned and the home was completely engulfed in flames. Bartlett was found dead in the garage.
On Monday night, county Public Safety Director William "Wiz" Miller placed acting Officer in Charge William Greene, Capt. Tony L. Motes, Capt. Sell Caldwell and Battalion Chief Lesley Clark on leave with pay.
An investigation of the department's response to the fatal fire was launched earlier. Sheila Edwards, spokeswoman from the CEO's office, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the investigation was completed Wednesday night and shared with the family in a meeting with officials Thursday morning.
In the report, DeKalb officials said Greene, Motes, Caldwell and Clark "failed to establish incident command as required by Departmental Guidelines."
"They violated their own policy," said Pitts Carr, the family attorney and spokesman. "Their own standard procedure when responding to a 911 call is to do a full investigation of the premises, to exhaust everything you can do."
According to the report, officers arrived to the scene at around 1:15 a.m., 12 minutes after Bartlett called 911 saying, "I set the house on fire with the thing from my nose." Bartlett's reference was to an oxygen concentrator she used when she slept, said Linda Bartlett Marett, one of Bartlett's daughters. The concentrator was used to create oxygen to help Bartlett deal with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Officers report they found no signs of a fire when they first arrived. They drove around the cul-de-sac, slowly, but no one exited the engine or walked up the driveway to investigate further, the report said.
They stayed for a few minutes and left.
"Getting some of the report has been comforting," said Ruth Bartlett, another daughter. "An apology would give us some closure."
During the meeting with DeKalb officials, family members said they wanted officers who were on the scene that night to personally apologize, Edwards said.
Apologies and condolences have been offered by the CEO, the fire chief and the public safety director, she added. Further disciplinary action is pending.
Copyright 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 29, 2010
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dennis Hiscock on
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thats sad if i have to say so myself....how in the world did they manage to do that?? first thing you have to do upon arrival is check the scene...not drive around and then decide to leave.....
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Permalink Reply by Loyd Dittfurth on
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well I would bet they were lazy and tired I mean it was 1:15 a.m. It was cold and they probably didnt want to get out in it so they sent the probie and he didnt see anything. Then went back in service.
This is totally unacceptable. It not only looks bad on them but all of us. I noticed that they didnt put the name of the city on there. So Im guessing that the state of georgia firefighters are responsable. I know better but that is how some uneducated people will look at it
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Permalink Reply by Kenneth L. Wagner Jr. (Chip) on
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Wow that is sad. I am in training and I am sure that is not an SOP.My heart gose out to the family.
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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I would with hold any judgment until ALL of the facts are known.
There was a 911 call from the house, but did dispatch give out that information?
What exactly was the information dispatched?
How can the 5 hour lag from the call till the fire be explained?
Was there a cancel?
Does anyone know what the SOP's are for that type of call, for that department?
Give the brothers a break before jumping on the pile.
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Permalink Reply by BillySFCVFD on
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If the report is accurate in stating that no one exited the reponding engine therefore not making contact with the reporting person was a mistake. This whole incident doesn't sound right and I doubt any FD would do that. Five hours later the house was engulfed sounds suspicious. Did the victim have a sound mind? I hope further investigation doesn't blame the FFs and all learn from it.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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"They violated their own policy," said Pitts Carr, the family attorney and spokesman. "Their own standard procedure when responding to a 911 call is to do a full investigation of the premises, to exhaust everything you can do."
Remember the discussions we have had in regard to whether a department should use SOP's verses SOG's?
Policies are specific, word for word, failure to follow step by step procedures will bite you, just like this incident seems to have done.
Guidelines... not as restrictive, giving us a little room to move.
I am not condoning the actions of these firefighters but cannot jump to any conclusions due to only one side, the media side providing information. As already mentioned, we don't know how the call was dispatched nor what information was relayed to company officers from dispatch.
CBz
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Permalink Reply by Greenman on
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The article did say is was in DeKalb County and the fire took place in the town of Dunwoody.
Greenman
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maybe they will release the 911 tapes from the originating call.....but that still don't explain (if this is true) why the members only circled around and left without even getting out and making sure the scene was safe....granted someone could have been watching and decided to go and burn down the house after they left (as it sometimes happens) but to cover their own a$$es they should without a doubt checked the scene and reported their findings to their dispatch before leaving...that way they would have been covered from this all together
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Permalink Reply by Christopher J Ostrander on
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No we dont have ALL the facts BUT... As I thought our duty is to protect life and property.....
which they didn't do, someone died. She called 911, the fire dept got toned and they responded don't drive around checking for smoke or flames, they had the address go up to the door and see if everything was ok. The dispatchers are trained highly well and I am pretty sure they got the address so for them not to get out of the truck is a BIG BUNCH OF BULLS***! Really ticks me off when I hear stuff like that. As far as showing up 5 hours later and the house is fully involved... Think back to your training you close the door and it will cut the oxygen off for a while and keep the fire contained so to conclude they should have been put on leave without pay for not doing their job.
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So despite not having all of the facts, you've still gone ahead and judged and sentenced them...so much for the brotherhood!
"...you close the door and it will cut the oxygen off for a while and keep the fire contained..." How long is a while? Until the O2 is used up? Then the fire goes out. Kind of unlikely the fire smoldered for 4 hours or more before taking off and involving the entire structure rather than just die out.
You've been in the fire service for a whole 1 1/2 years, must be a captain by now (of course, I don't have all the facts BUT...)
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Permalink Reply by Mike G on
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Don't try second-guessing - let the Investigators do their work. This situation sounds very unusual, so we can't be sure of the circumstances until all the information has been gathered. If the investigation shows negligence, then would be a good time to vent. But until then, it's best to stay cool until all the facts are in.
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