Hungry for Change

I was in Charleston, S.C., on the three-month anniversary of the fire that killed nine firefighters. Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. gave his first report to the community that day. The report outlined the behavioral health and financial assistance to the fallen firefighters’ families and praised the Post-Incident Assessment and Enhancement Review Task Force that was brought in to assess the fire department and make recommendations to help bring the department into the current century.


Riley repeatedly praised Fire Chief Rusty Thomas and his officers for implementing 19 of the task force’s 27 initial recommendations, including mandating seatbelt use, assigning an assistant to the fire chief, and designating the first dedicated safety and public-information officers. Interviewing procedures have been changed and are under way for hiring additional firefighters and dispatchers; the task force recommended that two dispatchers be on duty at all times.


Riley has committed to finding the money to fund all the recommendations. He’s also pledged to change the city’s fire-sprinkler code and to wave the water system‘s impact and tap fees. Riley, Charleston’s mayor for 32 years, also is up for re-election.


Thomas has committed to changing both his management style and his department. That‘s a pretty big pill to swallow. Can Thomas and his officers do it? They are pretty hungry, but the cost for this meal will be staggering, and the mayor and the community might choke on the tab.


I will have more from Thomas and Riley in FIRE CHIEF’s October issue.


A television reporter tracked me down while I was in Charleston to ask about my editorials and other blog postings. (Read the video and see the interview She asked me if I had questioned the chief about his statement that he would fight the fire the same way.


No, I didn‘t ask him why he made that statement. I didn‘t ask because when he made the statement only 36 hours after the fire, I‘m sure he was grieving his lost firefighters and his mind was on fighting fires the only way he knew how. I didn‘t because I see the widespread changes he is desperately trying to implement.


And I didn‘t ask because more task-force recommendations are on the way and because there are voices out there calling for him and the mayor to resign. He doesn‘t need stupid questions right now.

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