Firefighters fired after raising safety concerns

Township ponies up $23,050 in hush money
By Brad Pritchard Alliston Herald Nov 23, 2010
“This isn’t even whistle blowing. We are trying to fix some serious problems but the chiefs have decided to stonewall us instead” – Scott Cunningham, firefighter ADJALA-TOSORONTIO – Four firefighters with the Adjala-Tosorontio Fire Department were terminated and offered hush money in the wake of an internal investigation after the group raised concerns over workplace safety, professionalism and managerial issues. The terminations occurred just one week before the new fulltime fire chief took office Monday, Nov. 15.
Station 1 (Everett) firefighters Bill Burns, Jason Hackett and Scott Cunningham, along with Station 2 (Loretto) firefighter Tony Dormer received letters of termination from the township office the week beginning Nov. 8. Upon receiving the letter, they were suspended with pay for seven days and each received lieu of notice payments of varying amounts.
After this period they were given two options. The first choice was to take a lump sum payout and waive the right to have a hearing to fight the termination decision. However, doing so also meant the firefighters would have to sign a non-disclosure agreement (a gag order) to never speak publicly about this issue.
This choice also meant the men would be cut off from future benefits, such as medical care for work-related diseases that could develop down the road.
The other option was to decline the money and take the case in front of a township-organized tribunal. The hearing would be conducting by township  lawyer Jay Feehely, who would present a decision 10 days from the request.
The firefighters have unanimously decided not to take the money and are seeking legal counsel to fight the township’s decision to fire them.
Capt. Burns, a firefighter for 13 years, was given a lieu of notice payment (money to be received regardless) of $875 and was offered $1,650 to waive the hearing and sign the gag order. Training officer Cunningham, with 15 years experience, was given $5,000 and offered $10,000 to remain quiet. Dormer, with 10 years experience, was given $4,500 and offered $9,000. Hackett, with eight years experience was given $1,200 and offered $2,400.
In total, they were offered $23,050 for their silence.
Township staff and members of council, including CAO Eric Wargel and Mayor Tom Walsh, have refused to comment on the situation pending the hearing that is set to take place at an unspecified date. Fire Chief Wayne MacIsaac is also unwilling to comment on the situation.
On June 3 of this year, the group of firefighters sent a letter to council to request a meeting to discuss a long list of safety and management concerns. Cunningham said the group tried to avoid this by going “up chain of command” with no success.
“All of us had concerns, so they came to me (the highest ranking officer) and we put together a list of concerns and approached the chiefs numerous times,” Cunningham said. “We had numerous meetings with the chiefs and the powers that be, lots of letters and emails went back and forth, and they basically said ‘No, we’re not interested in dealing with you.’ So we said OK and we decided to take this up the chain of command, which was with council.”
The firefighters met with council on June 28 with a list of specific concerns, citing incidents when members of the fire department allegedly failed to wear personal protective equipment while on duty at emergency scenes.
There were also allegations the chiefs were ordering personnel to do unsafe work. There were also complaints regarding a general “lack of professionalism” displayed by management on a number occasions.
Some of the specific allegations in the letter include:
At a structure fire on Dec. 31, 2009, the group alleges one of the chiefs ordered firefighters into a barn on fire without proper respiratory equipment. The chief is also accused of making “disparaging remarks” about ATFD equipment, staff and belittling firefighters over the radio.
At an undated Tosorontio motor vehicle collision, another chief is accused of wearing flip flops and shorts while doing extrication work. The group claims former Chief Paul Wales was told about this, but failed to “act” on the concerns.
At a wildland fire at Sommerville farms in 2009, the group accuses one of the chiefs of heading down into a ravine despite being told not to by the incident commander. The group said the chief required rescue, which took six firefighters to pull him back up the hill using a hose line. The group claims this put the chief’s and the lives of the crew “at risk.”
Non of the allegations by the terminated firefighters has been proven in court or at a hearing.
The group is also concerned about privacy issues in regards to husband and wife chiefs Terry and Carrie Weatherup. At the time of the letter, both were sharing and using the same email account. The group said this presented a problem since both chiefs had access to confidential information addressed to one another.
The firefighters even suggested beforehand the pair get their own separate email accounts. Upon doing this, the group said they were told they were “interfering in her marriage, interfering in FD (Fire Department) business, and any further discussion would be met with a charge of harassment.”
After presenting these concerns to council, the group was told CAO Wargel would be tasked to conduct an internal investigation and could expect to be interviewed down the road. According to the letters of dismissal, the CAO interviewed 15 unnamed individuals.
As it turns out the only person in the group that was terminated who was interviewed was Dormer. He said he was interviewed by the CAO and deputy clerk back in July and was asked to restate the concerns outlined in the letter.
“They (the CAO) told me they’d write it down and sort things out,” Dormer said.
Dormer insisted that the acting incident commanders (usually the first firefighter to arrive at a scene) be included in the interviews, because he said they could “back up” many of the claims. He said he was told these individuals would be interviewed as the investigation continued.
It’s unclear at this time if those incident commanders were included in the investigation.
Dormer said he walked away with doubts that the township staff-led investigation would be done arbitrarily.
“No, I don’t think it could have been,” he said.
Burns, Cunningham and Hackett said their interviews never took place, even though the termination letter said they were “thoroughly questioned by Council” and had numerous opportunities to meet with the CAO to discuss the allegations further but “declined” the invitation to do so.
Burns and Hackett said they were never contacted once for an interview with Wargel, while Cunningham made four different attempts between July and September to speak to him. But he said each time the township cancelled the appointment.
On Sept. 14, Cunningham found out abruptly that the investigation had concluded.
Cunningham said he had a meeting scheduled that day with Wargel. When he called the deputy clerk that day, he said he was told they didn’t need to speak to him because the investigation was complete.
The group has yet to see the report from the investigation despite being promised they would. The letters of dismissal make references to the undisclosed report, saying the conclusions were made based on the findings of the investigation.
The letter states the allegations the group brought up were “largely unsubstantiated.” Wargel wrote that the investigation was “long, timely and costly and contributed to a decline in staff morale.”
The dismissal letter also states that “there was no violation of privacy” in regards to the Weatherup email concerns they brought up.
Burns said he and the group of firefighters “have been terminated unjustly by council and were offered money to be quiet about it.”
Cunningham said the group is being punished for speaking up “without any question whatsoever.”
“If you work in an inherently unsafe environment, the idea is you try to make it as safe as possible,” Cunningham said. “And part of that is communications and following rules. To a greater degree, communications has failed altogether.”
“This isn’t even whistle blowing,” Cunningham said. “We are trying to fix some serious problems but the chiefs have decided to stonewall us instead.”