When Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon last week announced her disciplinary actions in the Baltimore City Fire Department stemming from the death of fire recruit Racheal Wilson, she singled out 19 firefighters to receive the blame.
“There were at least 19 firefighters assisting with the burn, at least half of them experienced, veteran firefighters,” Dixon said. “… None of these members stepped up when they knew things weren?t right. Nobody said anything. And maybe if someone had … Wilson would be alive today.”
Those comments, and others like them, have drawn the ire of Stephan Fugate, president of the city firefighters? union No. 964, who says Baltimore City Fire Department Chief William Goodwin Jr. fed Dixon bad information.
Fugate on Monday posted a fiery message, called “STOP Blaming ?The Nineteen?!!!!!,” on the union?s Web site condemning the statements.
“How many times since its concoction have you heard or read of the ?? nineteen members ?? who allegedly stood mindlessly by and, by implication, sanctioned the death of FPA Racheal Wilson?” Fugate wrote. “The fact of the matter is that a significant portion of that ?nineteen? were on the scene by chance, were in no way participating in or aware of the particulars of the training exercise being conducted, and had absolutely no control over the consequences aside from perhaps assisting to avert an even more tragic result.”
Fugate, who agreed with the city government to avoid discussing Wilson?s death in the media, said he refuses to sit around and watch his members blamed.
“The consequence of a press blackout is the kind of thing is being bandied about,” Fugate said. “That wasn?t part of the deal. I can?t sacrifice 19 members? reputations to maintain any agreement. The fact of the matter is most of those members were there by chance and not by design. They were innocent bystanders. Had they not been there, the tragedy would have been much worse than it was.”
A spokesman for the fire department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
