Disciplinary ActionDiscriminationDrinking on dutyYou Can't Make This Stuff Up
San Francisco Investigating FF Ordered to Work Who Missed Run
The San Francisco Fire Department is taking disciplinary action against a firefighter who was ordered to work an extra 24 hour shift, missed a run while working that shift, and was then discovered to be intoxicated.
The strange story gets even stranger. The firefighter, who the San Francisco Chronicle identifies as a 46-year-old transgendered firefighter, was scheduled to fly to the Midwest for a medical appointment the day he was ordered to work. The firefighter’s appeal of the ordering was denied up the chain of command all the way to the deputy chief.
The Chronicle outlines that various factors impacting the case, including:
- The firefighter had exhausted his allotted number of refusals for the year and for that reason was unable to refuse the overtime
- The department is short 350 firefighters prompting extensive mandatory overtime
- The firefighter tested four times the city’s maximum .04% BAL (which itself is pretty generous)
- The firefighter agreed to go to a 28-day alcohol rehab program which he successfully completed
The 350 firefighter deficit in its ranks has occurred in part to a long period of not hiring any new firefighters due to the economy.
Next, yes the alcohol policy is really generous. After attending a training class in the nearby community Petaluma, held by a sports medicine instructor, the class learned that the effects of alcohol, is far longer than what the .04% BAC allows under the Ca. DMV rules.
Remember the scandal involving the US Sir Force Missile a Program at Minot N. Dakota about 18 months ago?
He said 135 persons involved in the program had their clearances removed due to have traceable amounts of alcohol in their blood stream. Way below the.04 percentage.
The firefighter is a fault for the drinking on duty. Some how, it seems that alcohol is
Showing up in the media about the SFFD, in most news stories. Remember the cover up from their Truck a Company 1, where it went through a red light, hit a motorcyclist, who if it hadn’t been for the fire hydrant, may have emerged from the accident less injured.
But…..in 2015, the same Chief officers in that case are still on the job today.
So, that’s why the firefighter wasn’t terminated.
Holy smokes–this is not going to be an easy investigation or executive decision. There are going to be lots of things to verify, numerous witness interviews and scrubbing which policies apply–not to mention the fallout from those both inside and outside the department once a determination is made. Can their department order someone to work if they have a previously scheduled medical appointment? I don’t think we’d ever go there–ordering someone to work knowing the person has a medical appointment–very risky. But–public safety comes first and should trump elective medical appointments–and being 350 FF’s short is shocking. Even deeper–I don’t know that many departments can even ask someone what type of medical appointment they have. Missing a run, intoxicated–this firefighter had a very bad day.