A deputy chief in the District fire department’s apparatus division traveled to a Dominican Republican beach town in late January at D.C. taxpayers’ expense to announce the donation of a firetruck and ambulance.
Deputy Fire Chief Ronald Gill Jr. was in the Dominican resort town of Sosua, from Jan. 26 through Feb. 4, spending $135 per day for a total cost of $810, according to documents provided to the D.C. Council’s public safety and judiciary committee. The travel information was submitted March 4, in response to questions from the council panel ahead of the fiscal 2008 oversight hearing.
Gill could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.
The firetruck and ambulance, shipped to Sosua, were called back to the District this week, The Examiner reported Tuesday. The Peaceoholics, a nonprofit anti-youth violence organization, claims to have organized the gift of the two vehicles, which are valued at a combined $340,000. The donation was allowed through an emergency contractor rule published in the D.C. Register on March 20 — nearly two months after Gill announced the donation in Sosua.
The Sosua-News reported Feb. 11 that a delegation from the District “arrived in Sosua on Jan. 29 to officially hand over an ambulance and firetruck to the town’s mayor,” Vladimir Cespedes. The Sosua-News article goes on to say that the vehicles “will be transported by ship, and should arrive in Puerto Plata around mid-February.”
“The Americans will also send instructors to train paramedics and personnel from the fire department on how to use such modern equipment,” according to the article.
Read more on the story in Wednesday’s Examiner.
