I’ve mostly given up writing about the slow motion train wreck that is the DC Fire and EMS Department because nothing ever seems to change there. Or at least change in a positive manner. I just found this editorial in the Washington Post. The WaPo as it’s known has published articles about the various disasters in patient care (or lack thereof) for a number of years. This is not even the first editorial that that Post has published regarding needed change at the fire department.

The D.C. fire department still has a long way to go

A KEY factor in bringing needed improvement to the District’s Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services is an insistence on accountability. At least, that’s what Fire Chief Gregory Dean said last summer after taking leadership of the troubled department. So it’s more than a little discouraging to learn that a rule meant to prevent employees from avoiding consequences for their mistakes never took effect because the department inexplicably dropped the ball.

I think it’s either inertia or active resistance that allowed the latest FD Lieutenant who royally screwed up to escape any sort of discipline for his negligence. At the least it was negligence.

Here are some details of the case,

DC fire chief admits mistake made on firefighter retirement law

WASHINGTON – D.C. law says firefighters should be held accountable for their actions, but the D.C. fire department has not been following that law all
because of a loophole that you need to know about.

Ignoring the law allowed a firefighter to retire after he made a mistake that may have contributed to the death of a toddler. He will get his full
pension and receive no discipline for the incident.

D.C. Fire and EMS Chief Gregory Dean said on Tuesday that he had no excuse for not enacting the regulations required by law that would have forced Lt.
Guy Valentine to face a disciplinary process before being allowed to retire.

I wonder if anyone will be held accountable for that mistake? Not the medical mistake, but the mistake of not promulgating rules to implement a law.

According to investigators, Valentine heard a call go out on March 18 for a choking child just three blocks from his station, but failed to take the call.

In a report released to the public, Valentine said he did not take the call because he was not dispatched and he did not know the house on Warren Street where the toddler was in distress was just three blocks away. The firehouse where he was assigned is at the corner of Warren Street and Wisconsin Avenue.

The report says the lieutenant’s engine with a paramedic on board was not dispatched because a communications tablet installed in the engine had become disconnected and dispatchers at the 911 center did not know the engine was in service at the station.

Had become disconnected, how? Does no one at DC FEMS not check out their equipment and vehicles at the start of their shift? Which still would not exonerate the Lt. because heard the call go out and still didn’t bother to respond. I’ve known a lot of firefighters over the years and they all know the boundaries of their first due area, so I find it hard to credit his statement that he didn’t know that the incident address was only a few blocks from the station house.

Sooner or later, someone is going to figure out that EMS needs to be removed from the fire department. Then they need to hire management that will consider EMS a priority and not just something that they “have to do.”

Sadly, I think it’s going to be later rather than sooner.