Mayor Sheila Dixon last week released a final report into the Feb. 9 death of Baltimore City Fire Department recruit Racheal Wilson, who perished in a training exercise. The 117-page report, prepared by Howard County Deputy Fire Chief Chris Shimer, found about 50 violations of national fire standards, and listed dozens of missteps and errors during the fatal live burn on Calverton Road.
The Examiner interviewed Henry Burris, president of the Vulcan Blazers, a group that represents black firefighters, to learn his opinion of the report.
In a statement released this week, you said you took issue with “derogatory statements” made by “upper management” in the fire department about Wilson. What did you mean by that?
They said she was unfit. They said she shouldn?t be in the fire department. The other derogatory statement is that she failed the agility test twice, which wasn?t true. She only failed the agility test one time.
Have such statements, which imply that Wilson was slow and overweight, upset Wilson?s family, with whom you?ve been in touch?
Yes, they?ve been terribly upset. It?s like a mantra. People are coming out of the woodwork saying she is deficient in some way. It?s all to the contrary. She performed her job very well while in the academy. She achieved and earned everything she got in the fire department.
What, in your opinion, was the biggest error the fire department committed during that Feb. 9 live burn?
There were so many things that went wrong. Incompetence would be a way to describe it. A tremendous lack of professionalism would be another.
