Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
Additional details are emerging about the police investigation of the Columbus Fire & EMS that we posted about last week. It appears the primary focus of the investigation relates to the staffing level of the first in engine at a fatal daycare fire in 2010, and whether documents were either falsified or removed.
The fire occurred on February 26, 2010, and claimed the life of 23-month-old Michael Dubard. Firefighters made numerous heroic rescues of other children during the blaze. A total of nine children were in the day care at the time of the fire, which was only allowed to care for six under state law.
The first arriving apparatus, Engine 7, was supposed to be staffed with five firefighters, but responded to fire with only three members. The reason for the discrepancy appears to be at the heart of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI)’s search.
An internal Columbus Fire & EMS investigation concluded Engine 7 was missing two firefighters because the lieutenant was out with an injury, and minutes before the fire a battalion chief picked up a crew member to take him for a random drug test.
However, the GBI’s search warrant affidavit alleges that Engine 7 was understaffed because both missing firefighters had been taken for drug testing. The affidavit claims that fire department records were altered to show that only one was being drug-tested, while the second was out sick.
