MD chief concerned about accident rate in his department
The Washington Post’s Bill Turque today (Friday) is looking closely at the number of collisions involving Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service. It features a serious collision involving an ambulance about a year ago and highlights warnings from the department’s former and current chiefs.
Bill Turque, The Washington Post:
Shortly after the Aspen Hill crash in October 2014, then-Fire Chief Steve Lohr wrote a memo that said the department was “rapidly heading towards a more tragic accident that will likely be fatal.” Lohr, who retired in December, ordered a revamping of accident prevention and investigation procedures, which he called “broken and unacceptable.”
But the department has already exceeded its 2014 collision totals. Through Sept. 30, there were 246 incidents, including 133 in which department investigators faulted fire personnel.
New Montgomery fire chief SCOTT Goldstein said the department is seeing “an unnecessarily high level of collisions.” He has revamped how the department investigates accidents and has scrutinized its driver training program. He also established a “zero tolerance” policy for failure to use seat belts. “Our job is to get to Mrs. Smith’s emergency,” Goldstein said. “If we don’t get to the call because we’ve had a crash, what have we done for Mrs. Smith?”
