Baltimore City Fire Department Chief William Goodwin Jr. admitted Friday that his department failed fire cadet Racheal Wilson, who died Feb. 9 when a training exercise went wrong.
“We failed her,” Goodwin said at Wilson?s funeral.
In the wake of Wilson?s death, city fire officials have suspended three employees, amid reports that last week?s fatal training exercise was not in compliance with national standards.
In his remarks at Wilson?s funeral at New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore, Goodwin said Wilson?s memory will live on within the department.
“I suffered because I cannot undo those tragic series of events that led to her death,” the chief said. “But because of Racheal I can make sure they never happen again.”
The presidents of both of the city?s fire unions said after the funeral that Goodwin?s admission came days too late.
“There?s no doubt that there were failures,” said Stephan Fugate, president of the city firefighters? union No. 964. “Had that admission been made a couple days earlier, it would have been better for everyone involved.”
Fugate said the exercise that killed Wilson involved multiple fires, possibly lacked a safety officer and did not provide Wilson?s crew with a radio for contact.
“In a training exercise of that nature, there should be only one fire set,” he said. “When you add all those issues together, it was a recipe for disaster.”
Rich Schluderberg, president of firefighters? union No. 734, said a flawed training exercise only one day before the fatal fire should have raised concerns about how the cadets? training was being handled.
“If you?re going to do live burns, you need to follow the safety protocols to the line,” he said.
Fugate said he believed the suspended firefighters ? two lieutenants and an division chief ? were being made into scapegoats.
“Quite frankly, there are other people in higher positions who had the authority and responsibility to intervene and stop the exercise,” he said.
