Dec 18

Firefighter Who Wouldn’t Bypass Blaze Punished

A D.C. firefighter faces disciplinary action for disobeying a superior’s order by deciding to fight a fire in Northwest Washington last month, his attorney said yesterday.

The trouble started about 1:40 p.m. Nov. 21 when a call went out about a house fire in the 1800 block of Second Street NW. Lt. Gerald Burton was driving a fire engine several blocks away on his way to a training class and called a supervisor to say he was in the area and could help.

The supervisor told Burton not to go to the fire and instead to continue on to the training class, according to Burton’s attorney, Donna Rucker.Rucker said Burton kept driving. When he was two blocks from the fire, he was flagged down by people on the side of the road, who told him that a home was burning. He then went to the house and saw flames, Rucker said.

Burton again alerted his supervisor, who told him to play a backup role in fighting the fire rather than a frontline role, Rucker said. When Burton arrived, he and another firefighter riding with him found themselves the only firefighters on the scene, Rucker said.

Burton and the other firefighter put out the blaze, Rucker said. Nobody was in the house at the time of the fire, and nobody was injured. Alan Etter, a spokesman for the department, said the fire was electrical and started in the home’s basement. The fire caused about $150,000 in damage.

Burton, who has been a D.C. firefighter for 21 years, faces a two-day suspension without pay for disobeying an order, Rucker said. If he chooses not to accept the suspension, he can take the case to the department’s trial board.

Etter would not comment on the matter, saying it was a personnel issue.

Fire officials said that a dispatcher sent engines to the blaze at 1:41 p.m. and that the first unit was on the scene at 1:43. It was not clear last night whether that unit was Burton’s. Rucker said that other units went to the scene but that Burton couldn’t say whether they arrived seconds or minutes after he did.

“I understand the allegation he did not obey a direct order,” Rucker said. “However, in this case, there’s no evidence he did anything other than comply with the mandate to put the lives of the people of the District of Columbia first.”