I have said for a long time in my department that we have a job that is hard to lose. It is hard to get fired. Yet time and time again, some find the easiest ways to get fired.
What I am referring to in this post is firefighters who make the wrong decisions. In the latest case, it is a Spalding County, Georgia firefighter who is currently suspended with pay for taking video at the scene at a gruesome and fatal accident. The Spalding County firefighter is under investigation for the taking and sharing the video he took on his cell phone.
Victims have names, families, loved ones, and identities. We need to respect that.
The video was taken 4 months ago, on July 17th, when 23 year old Danya Kempson Schacht was killed in an automobile accident on highway 1941. She had two children.
That video ended up being sent to the victims parents, Lucretia and Jeff Kempson.
Unacceptable!
I believe in due process. This man should be afforded the justice of being innocent until proven guilty.
However, it seems as though the writing is on the wall.
Why do I think he should be fired?
That is simple. If indeed he took the video and shared it as the story states, he should be fired. We aren’t the news media. We are firefighters. If he wants a job behind a camera, he should go get one.
The Kempsons received a text message containing the graphic video two months after the crash.
“At the moment we heard about this, the anger was just, there’s no way this could be,” Jeff Kempson said. “I was praying when I looked at that video it wasn’t her.”
The images are painful enough, but the Kempsons said the audio is agonizing, too, since they say it reveals a lack of concern and urgency by first responders.
“They didn’t care for my daughter,” Lucretia Kempson said. “I have a hard time that she wasn’t treated with love.”
We (firefighters) are killing our once polished perception by the public…one dumb ass firefighter at a time.
Links to the Story:
- Firefighter Suspended After Deadly Crash Video Sent to Victim’s Parents
- Outside investigator brought into Spalding County, Georgia cell phone video case. County attorney calls it ‘a grave error in judgement’.
- A firefighter with a cell phone camera brings another image problem for the fire service. The story from Spalding County, Georgia, like the video itself, goes viral.
Ron White just didn’t know how right he was!
“Fire him.”
Roger that.
Really, fire him? Suppose the shoe were on the other foot and he was filmed at a fire, actively involved in some firefighting operation and without all his PPE? What if a member videotaped him driving without his seatbelt on? How about appearing drunk and disorderly at a FOOLS event at FDIC? Are those terminating offensives as well?
Just making you think a little more….
Bill
Good questions Bill.
First off, I didn’t make a blanket statement about everyone should be fired for disobeying policy.
Secondly, I said that he is warranted due process.
I just don’t think that these situations are similar to the issue at hand.
Operating w/o PPE and driving w/o a seatbelt happen all the time. Some departments don’t have policies which govern there use. Does that make it right? No.
Are they as serious of an infraction as this incident? No. Not wearing PPE and/or a seatbelt only harm yourself.
As for the drunk and disorderly at FDIC…I guess that all depends on who he is representing at the time. Who sent him?
For example, we had an incident where a BC did something similar while out of town. He was on the City dime and got demoted because of it.
I was at FDIC on my own dime. It had nothing to do with the department. If I wanted to get drunk as hell, the only thing I would have to deal with is my own personal shame and embarrassment.
Good reply.
Bill
You know I think we have all seen either pictures or video of stuff that should never be posted to the web. I think that poorest judgment lies with the person that actually uploaded it to the web. If you are going to use this as a training tool then there should be editing to obscure any identity of victim then I don’t have a problem with the video. I have not seen the video so if it was video simply to see the victims injuries then I have a problem with it. Person showing the video at a bar = bad judgment. Person uploading the video to the web now that should be a fire-able offense.
First of all Bill Carey, don’t ever, ever make Rhett think. It exhausts him so that I am worried he is going to fall asleep when drives that big fire engine.
Second, what a brave stance Rhett. Stuck your neck out on this one, huh? Next you are going to do a hard hitting editorial in support of the American flag.
I can’t put my finger on it, but your style very much reminds me of something I’ve seen somewhere else before on a fire service blog.
Keep up the good work.
Statter
Dave,
Now that your leash is gone from WUSA, I thought maybe we would start hearing your opinion. I guess that is not so. The only thing I have heard is about how you disagree with me.
I love it though. The longer you take the instant opposing view of mine the sooner you will lose whatever credibility you have left.
Really Dave, you need to sever that umbilical cord you have attached to whatever group it is this week.
Every day you are more and more like him….you know who I am talking about!
Oh good God, I’m SOOOOOOO tired of hearing you both fire away at each other with both barrels.
It was entertaining for like a week now it’s just sad.
Anyway, the fact that he distributed the video is despicable. The fact that he had his cell phone out on a run and even shot it in the first place should prompt some disciplinary action for this fellow and the company officer and incident commander. Promotion, to civilian? Maybe, but not for us to decide. Time off? Oh yes.
What do you want an opinion on? Ask and you shall receive.
You sure you and John don’t want to blame the nasty news media for this story, too?
If they hadn’t reported on this with their sensational headlines, this wouldn’t have been a problem. It was kept quiet for many months until those awful reporters started snooping around.
Stattewr.
Yup Dave you are right. This incident along with numerous others had been covered up by the spaulding fd for many years. People there (real fire fighters) have been trying to change the place for more than 20 years. But with a spineless chief who either wasn’t there or hid in his office when he was and an asst chief who micromanaged, bullied, and encouraged in-fighting and backstabbing it was impossible. Now the chief has retired and the asst can’t manage to keep all the skeletons in his closet anymore so people there are finally beginning to see the light. Once the light was on they could see all the lumps from what has been swept under the rug for years. Yeah the asst has got himself an attorney and with good reason. The people he had doing his dirty work got fed up and rolled over on him. Once the things this guy has done come out it’s really going to put a black eye on the fire service.