Where’s the chief? The bad news piles up in Fairfax County

Watch today’s (Friday) report by WUSA9.com Peggy Fox

It was two weeks ago today (Friday) that we last heard from Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department Chief Richie Bowers on the topic of sexual harassment issues against female firefighters in his department. Since that press conference, which mostly dealt with the suicide of Firefighter Nicole Mittendorff and the harassment of Mittendorff on a website, news coverage has highlighted a series of new allegations. Despite all of this very serious bad news impacting the image of the department, its leader is no longer out in front dealing publicly with these allegations.

Here’s a list of some of the stories over the last 15 days, all unanswered by Fairfax County and Chief Bowers except for a generic statement about sexual harassment:

• Just hours after the April 29 press conference, a TV report highlighted a court document that calls into question Chief Bowers statement during the event that prior to Nicole Mittendorff’s disappearance his administration was not aware of any cyber-bullying targeting a firefighter.
• The day before the press conference, Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak wrote, ” … the department has faced numerous lawsuits in the past because of men who couldn’t stop taunting their female colleagues about sex toys and body parts in the firehouse, who’d joke about rape and sex when handling pike poles and fire hoses.”
• Attorney Ellen Renaud, who seems to be the go-to lawyer on sexual harassment cases in the department, told the Post’s Dvorak, “From what I have seen, sex-based harassment happens to nearly every woman who works for the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.”
• A new lawsuit has been filed by attorney Renaud on behalf of Firefighter Magaly Hernandez that includes claims the administration of Chief Bowers did not take proper action after allegations by Hernandez that she was sexually-harassed by her captain.
• Attorney Renaud told reporter Peggy Fox there’s at least one firefighter who witnessed harassment of Nicole Mittendorff at a firehouse.
• Guy Morgan, a former police officer who handles the department’s internal affairs investigations, has been placed on administrative leave and is under investigation because of posts on his Facebook page the chief called “inappropriate.” Peggy Fox reported, despite Chief Bowers being told in recent weeks by the president of the Virginia Professional Fire Fighters Association and others about the postings by Morgan, no action was taken until shortly after Fox began asking questions yesterday (Thursday).
• Guy Morgan is cited as a key player in the suit filed by Firefighter Hernandez: “Guy Morgan, Defendant’s Internal Affairs Investigator, conducted an inept investigation – not questioning eyewitnesses, all of whom were women, and ignoring the observations of Battalion Chief (Cheri) Zosh.”

Let me be clear, I have no clue if any of these allegations are true and the point of this column is not to jump to any conclusions. My concern, as a citizen of the county, is that they are left out there, day after day, largely unanswered by Chief Bowers and Fairfax County. I don’t think I am alone in wanting some answers from my fire chief. Here are some of my questions — questions I think any chief in this position should be able to answer at this point:

• How serious is this problem?
• What have you confirmed, so far, as factual information?
• Have you determined any failure by your administration to properly handle allegations of sexual-harassment?
• What role did Guy Morgan, the department’s professional standards investigator who is now under investigation, have in the internal investigation announced on April 29?
• With the allegations about Guy Morgan, how concerned are you about previous investigations he conducted and the impact on the most recent sexual-harassment lawsuit by Firefighter Magaly Hernandez?
• Is the department aggressively investigating allegations of misconduct highlighted on the website Fairfax Underground?
• What have you learned from the meeting you first announced two weeks ago that reportedly was attended by 75-percent of the women of the department?
• If this is as big a problem as the allegations make it to be, what steps are you taking to prevent these issues from continuing to occur?

Silence from a chief says a lot when you have the kind of two weeks experienced by this fire department. It’s time for the citizens to hear answers to these questions and probably a lot more.

If the allegations are unfounded, Chief Bowers should be out front defending his department and setting the record straight. But if things are as bad as the news stories indicate, they will not get better by running and hiding. Admit the problems — even if they involve mistakes by the department’s leadership — and tell us about the solutions. Each new, unanswered story digs the hole a little bit deeper and will make it even harder to restore the reputation of the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department, its firefighters and its leadership.