CHARLESTON — The candid, critical e-mails among members of an expert fire safety panel investigating the 2007 Sofa Super Store tragedy show a perplexing reluctance by the city of Charleston to acknowledge the shortcomings of its fire department even while undertaking major improvements. (more…)
Also on SConFire…
- Store Lawyers Call for Sanctions Over Fire Records – September 24, 2010
- Sofa Super Store Attorneys Drop Motion – October 27, 2010
- Summerville to Hire New Fire Chief in Secret – October 20, 2011
- FD Tackles New Challenge – August 12, 2010
What did Mayor Riley expect when he hired the outside review team commonly referred to as the “Routely Panel”?
A group of outside “Free thinkers” who know about operating a modern fire department using current industry standards
as a guideline, that’s who.
Not a group of “Whitwasher’s” who would say nothing bad transpired. They were hired to find out what went wrong and They Did It!
The e-mails that were released in part confirm the anger, fear and frustration that was written previously on the “Courier” and “FF Hourly” blog sites
that immeadiately after the SSS Fire that despite the initial 27 recommendations, Nothing was changing as long as the former chief was in Office.
As readily seen in the Phase I Report
the Fire department needed to develop and adopt many, many modern management and
operating concepts to better serve its employees and the citizens of Charleston.
Yet, initially, nothing changed other than a few command staff opfficers moved around and some promotions occured under the “‘ol Boy System”, while the “Panel’ was in operation.
Remember, it actually took the release of the NIOSH “Draft” Report to force the Mayor’s hand in releasing the Routely Panels
Report, both of which detailed the short comming of the CFD under it’s former Chief.
The Mayor got what he wanted:
What was wrong with the CFD of 6-18-07 and what went wrong at the SSS Fire and how it came about.
While their were initial reservations as to the effect to new Chief Tom Carr would have on the CFD after the SSS Fire, its good to read of the changes he has brought over the past three years since he took over.
Glad to have you on board UK!