Breaking: Charleston Chief Retires

We discuss the retirement of the Charleston Fire Chief.

Moving forward and What We Can Do

Comment Policy


MP3 File

Comments

[Larry Dibble]

Let the healing begin!

[Paul]

A very positive step!!!

[Jay Bird]

Has anything been said about a replacement?

[uk-fb-buff]

Jay;

1st. 9.75 on the Richter Scale!

2nd. YES Larry! let the healing process begin and look to a New CFD!

3rd. Was I surprised when I opened my e-mail file and the first thing I saw was my Firehouse.com message about Rusty leaving.

What a sudden "jolt".

Now comes the "Phase II Report" for review,

(Miss Dot, Randy Hutchinson and all of the other family members should have a copy of the Report, as of today, following the "Order Model" of release as stated by Marc Beringer in Glendale, Arizona, and as written by Billy-Goldfedder)

digesting it and moving on to "Phase III".

This is now the time to pause, review, reflect and to move on.

Right now I believe R o'D is the person running the organization so things may stay
as it is for only the moment, as now
a Nationwide Fire Chief Search should be conducted.

Mayor Riley needs to have this item impressed upon him contineously. IAFF Local 61 should have a hand in selecting
the new Chief as was done in Atlanta, with Chief Kelvin Cochran.

Bringing in Chief's Harry Carter, Vince Dunn, Butch Cobb, Nishamura Willis or Katherine Ridenhour, to name several potential candidates, on a Contracted basis for a few years is one area to start as the new and current CFD FF's gain the necessary BFOQ's, and SKA's to takeover the "helm" of the CFD.

There is so much to accomplish and it needs to be done in an organized manner.

No matter what, Rusty Thomas' leaving is a good thing.

32 years of service to the Citizens of Charleston is a long time, and noteworthy.

But it is over shadowed by the events of 6-18-07 and his lack of staying focused on progressive changes in Fire Service Trends during his tenure.

4th Comment Policy. I agree with it. Keep things calm and to the point.

With RT'sleaving, I think the level of frustartion that prompted some of these comments has evaporated.

5th. Jay, staying with it. Helping to improve one fire department at a time.

With all of the recent news from Charleston, what information have you recieved from Rome, Ga. as well as others?

Keep up the good work!

[Modern Rescue]

The families are getting copies of the report in the morning and the CFD will be getting it at a meeting tomorrow afternoon at a meeting at the Gaulliard (sp) then it will be released to the media after that.

[Capts Daughter]

From my dad I personnally dont think the mayor will let anyone make a choice for chief but him.I feel that most of the ones the chief promoted turned on him.I think some should realize that Rusty was not at the fire at the beginning and you really dont know if he would,have sent our guys in at the start.I think asst. chief garvin made a bad mistake not pulling our guys OUT when st andrews pulled out.I may make some mad but just think whoes really to blame.Iwas there before Rusty got there so dont think I m a punk off the street.I saw a lot of things that was wrong from the start.It all starts within the first 2 mins. of the fire.Jay god bless you for your service to the CFD AND OTHERS.

[Modern Rescue]

My question is who is going to be the interm?! Jughead? clASSen? G"farv"in? Ghi?

Now that he is gone Garvin and Shriver will be leaving as well. There is no one else to cover for them.

[chip]

Capt's Daughter,

The reason I was calling for the chief to retire/resign was not about his actions on June 18th but his actions or in actions over the years preceding the tragedy.
The problems with the CFD where things that we in the fire service have been learning about for the last 20 years or so. It is our duty to learn from the deaths of our brothers.

If you read LODD reports from 20 years ago they would say the same things said to the CFD in the NIOSH report. We owe it to ours lost brothers to learn from our mistakes and to not repeat them.
It has been said plenty of times, it was the culture / attitude of the leadership of not just the fire dept.but the mayor's office as well that led to this "perfect storm"

Stay Safe, Chip

[Egres234]

Congratulations Jay. Firefighter Hourly has made a huge impact and a difference in the fire service. I hear a little sympathy in your voice, your human, but you have made a direct impact with this blog and I for one am grateful. Each day I look forward to opening this page and learning. What a wonderful tool for the fire service at large. Thanks again Jay.

[Jack Homen]

Dang it Egres234, you took the words out of my mouth! Thank you Jay, this site is helping departments and firefighters all over the world even in Utah!
Godspeed the Charleston Nine, jack