Columbia Fire Marshal Dismisses Violations At Benedict College

In a bizarre turn of events Columbia Fire Marshal Carmen Floyd has thrown out the violations against Benedict College. It is rare to see these types of violations dismissed. In an interview with WIS Deputy Chief Aubrey Jenkins stated the violations shouldn't have been written in the first place:

"The fire marshal has the right to null process tickets and the reason why these tickets were dropped, because actually we just felt they should not have been wrote in the first place"

It's unknown if the violations weren't actually violations or if protocol wasn't followed. It does beg the question of whether or not other violations at businesses and other properties may have also been done improperly. It's a question the Fire Marshal will have to answer since the the office has already come under fire for not performing enough inspections.

Benedict has been in the news over the last few months over fire code violations. Former City Manager Charles Austin is now a Dean at the school.

Comments

[Mike]

This comes as no surprise at all. The fire marshals are the most inept group in the fire department but they are protected by the people in the chief's office. Watch them try to throw the inspector under the bus just like they did a division chief and a chaplain. The real problem will skate on by.
These are the people who want to help with EMS. There isn't a single person in the hierarchy of the fire department - the top 5 positions -who can function as the leader of a fire or EMS department. Dysfunction rules the day over there.

[Joe]

This is worse.

City Manager 134, 980
Assistant City Manager 128, 870
Assistant City Manager 128,870
Assistant City Manager 110,800
Assistant City Manager 108,280

[BC]

All I can say is that what little bit of respect I had left for our Admin people has gone. I'll never call one of them Chief again, they dont deserve that title, and you will definately never hear me use the word leader to describe them. If I were a business owner in the city I would dare them to come write me a ticket and fine me. If its good for the goose its cood for the gander and if Benedict gets away with crap like that why cant, Lowes, or Target, or Bob's Bait Shop? In addition to this endangering the students lives at those schools, it also puts the guys on the floor at a greater risk, cause now me have to go get the people still inside because the safety systems in place didnt work, and our brass did nothing about it. Its almost to the point to where I am ashamed to be associated with the CFD.

[WIS viewer]

The chief on tv contradicted himself several times. As a resident in Columbia I have watched firefighters complain about budget cuts and felt sympathy for them. This story makes me think they are hiding something and young men and women may pay the price for it. How is this possible? Who is in charge of these marshalls? That person should be held accountable for all of this.

[uk-fb-buff]

My 2 cemts from California

"Porkfest,'Featherbedding'" at its Finest in the City Managers Office.

I don't think the City of Los Angeles (at over 100 square miles in size) has
four assistant City Managers.

And then the CFD Admin. Salaries.

Cut them all by 15% and no taking City Vehicles Home. To start with.

Still, Accountability is the key word here.

The City becomes liable if the FD Inspectors don't enforce the rules. "Pencil whipping" or Deleteing obvious Code Violations is:

A. Ethically wrong. The Codes are written for a Purpose: Life and Fire Safety, despite the cost.

B. "Tammany Hallism/'Cronyism'" is alive and well in some offices of the City.

Firefighters should not be laid off.

"Efficiency Study"? Here's where you can start;

By getting rid of all four
assistant's to the city manager and let him/her carry their own brief case to work.

What a waste of the Citizens money! If this were my home town, I'd be shouting from the top of City Hall about this mess.

[Miss my Holidays Bob]

And beside dismissing the fines for SAFETY reasons and all.... We need the MONEY!!! Fine em all.....

Bend a arm
Bena Leg
Bend a D**k

[M.Solomon]

This whole issue with Benedict is a lawsuit waiting to happen. I'm not sure who applied the pressure to the CFD to make administration drop the fines, but I hope it was worth it. Maybe someone needs to remind them of the Seton Hall University fire. This might be one of the craziest things I've heard of in a long time. Think about it, out of 500 violations, NONE stuck??? Somebody please help me understand this.

[Editor]

Insider In Columbia:

I feel as though the hard questions are always asked. Whether you like the answers or not is another matter. Let's put it this way. If you want tough questions asked why not sign your name because you are seeking me out to do something and yet don't want to put your own name up. That's a bit much. If someone is going to step up and speak might as well sign your name, correct?

Jay