Mayor Pat Hampson said Monday although the firefighters paid the hotel owners for the beer, council was ''astounded and distressed'' at their poor judgment. RCMP and internal investigations have begun and two firefighters have been temporarily suspended.
The 98-year-old downtown hotel was gutted in a spectacular blaze on May 23.
Hampson said rumours of the beer's removal soon starting circulating and were confirmed on June 9.
''The fire chief advised us that three people on the fire department said: 'Yes, we did remove the beer and that was a stupid thing to do. We know we're not supposed to remove things from the fire scene,''' Hampson said.
The kegs were apparently transported by a private pickup truck to the fire hall, where at least one keg was tapped.
He said the town intends to address what he terms as a ''serious breach of discipline.''
''Their actions are a breach of trust for our residents who deserve to expect that the fire department will safeguard their property as they would their own,'' he said.
The mayor said he has heard a number of reasons for the beer removal, including that they could have been damaged when a backhoe arrived on scene to demolish the hotel's blackened remains.
A meeting between council and the entire fire department is scheduled possibly as early as this Thursday. With a police investigation underway, Hampson said council is wary of ordering any further disciplinary action at this time.
In the meantime, a ban on drinking alcohol in any town building has been issued. The fire hall's bar area in future can only be used for occasional licensed social events.
Hampson said he has also written a letter of apology to Don and Lisa Kazakoff, the owners of the Mesa Hotel. He noted the incident reflects on the whole town.
''It's a huge black eye and that's why it had to be jumped on very quickly,'' he said. ''It's going to cause tension and probably some hard feelings between some members of the department and council.''
Hampson acknowledged some fire department members would have preferred to have seen the whole issue settled internally.
''Apparently they felt they had resolved it with the owners, because the owners were paid for the beer,'' he said.
Fire chief Dave Janzen could not be reached for comment Monday.
News of the beer scandal comes on the heels of the June 13 slide which destroyed five homes and ruined orchards and vineyards next to Testalinden Creek south of Oliver.
Hampson said the last few weeks have taken on almost biblical connotations. First the fire, then the slide and flood, and now the ''locusts'' in the form of this current controversy.
Related Article
OLIVER, B.C. - Every member of the Oliver, B.C., fire department has agreed to accept a two week suspension as punishment for the removal of six beer kegs from a burning hotel.
Oliver Mayor Pat Hampson confirms the suspensions will be served by each member of the volunteer fire department.
Some of Oliver's nearly three dozen firefighters weren't even in the southern Okanagan community when the May 23 blaze destroyed the Mesa Hotel.
But Hampson says all the members have agreed to the suspensions as payback for removal of the beer - and the tapping of at least two of the kegs at the local firehall.
Hampson says the suspensions will be served in rotation, to ensure the community has adequate fire protection.
The firefighters who removed the kegs later paid the hotel owners for the beer but RCMP are still investigating and have not yet said if charges are likely.
Related Article
EVERY MEMBER OF THE OLIVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT has been suspended following an incident where six kegs of beer were taken into “protective custody” at a building fire.
Chief Janzen looks through the rubble of the Mesa Hotel. (Western News photo)
It began on May 23 when a fire destroyed the Mesa Hotel and Bar in downtown Oliver. The firefighters on the scene felt that the kegs should be taken to the fire hall to be stored until “security was properly established” at the fire scene. They also felt that the pressurized tanks were a danger. It wasn’t a problem until two of the kegs were tapped, though. The first one had been damaged in handling from the fire and didn’t work. But the second keg flowed ok.
When the fire chief found out about it, he wrote a letter to the hotel’s owner explaining what happened and apologized publicly for it. The FD also claims to have reimbursed the hotelier for the missing suds. They further announced that three of the department’s 35 members had been suspended for the incident.
The aggrieved owner however, wasn’t mollified in the least. The Western News reports:
Mesa Hotel operator Don Kazakoff disputed the statement about reimbursement.Kazakoff said on their way to save the beer, the firemen would have had to walk past a large nitrogen welding bottle, CO2 beverage dispenser tanks and two 25-pound propane tanks that were all full. He added with a keg serving 500 glasses, it is suspicious why only a couple of firefighters have been suspended.
“Either the two suspended firemen have a Herculean capacity to process beer or all the firefighters who drank are guilty,” wrote Kazakoff.
The city and the mayor agreed with him and decided to hand out 2-week suspensions to every member who was at the fire. In a display of solidarity, members who weren’t there, including one who was out of town, offered to share the responsibility and offered to take the 2 weeks off too. Following the examples of fire departments elsewhere who punish their citizens with “rolling station closures,” the Oliver VFD will be handing out the suspensions on a rotating basis until every member has paid his penalty.
Since all the foam hit the fan, fire chief Dave Janzen has been on a medical leave of absence.
The 3-story wood-frame hotel was built in 1914 in
another city and later moved to Oliver.
Photo by David Rodgers
Read the story in the Western News HERE.
CHBC-TV News has this video report that also includes some fire footage:
My Opinion
So it seems to me like this situation has tarnished the fire department image everywhere. We as firefighters need to keep up our professional attitudes, maintain the trust with the public and basically keep a "bird's eye view" on everything. This incident is nothing short of disgusting, disloyal, and leaves a very sour taste in my mouth.
Everything about this incident is wrong. Not to mention that now they've lost all the hard earned trust that all their brothers and sisters put into gaining for years before them and now they've gone and done something as bad as this. It's not the fact that it's beer. It's the fact that they've taken something that isn't theirs. Yes I believe they should be charged. They've stolen something even IF they have now paid for it, they were dishonest. Something that every fire department values completely is honesty, and they've tarnished that value.
No I don't think they should go to jail or anything like that, but I believe that along with the suspensions, they should be made to do MORE community service, put themselves on the chopping block for the residents to see, and besides volunteering at the fire department, clean highways, ditches, and the town up, volunteer for minor sports or any other various organizations or charities around there. Lend a hand and REALLY work hard to get back in the good books with that community....*smack smack* I can still taste the disgust...
Brad MacMillan
Firefighter
Strathmore Rural Fire Dept.
No comments:
Post a Comment