By David Gambino
The Decatur Daily
DECATUR, Ala. — Decatur Fire & Rescue Chief Tracy Thornton on Tuesday said he would take appropriate action after learning of an “inappropriate” training exercise as the Alabama Fire College continues to investigate the DFR recruit school.
The state began its investigation into DFR’s recruit training on Monday after the class was abruptly sent home on Friday, according to Thornton. The class began on Sept. 3 with 21 new recruits. In addition to Decatur firefighters, the DFR Training Center offers classes to self-sponsored recruits and aspiring firefighters from nearby departments.
“A video has been shared with Decatur Fire/Rescue that was taken from one of our previous training classes ... . The video was taken during a drill that was intended to show recruits that they may have respond to very odd circumstances on emergency calls,” Thornton said in a written statement.
“During the video, we witnessed an exercise being used that was inappropriate for this type of training. Even though the concept of preparing recruits for the unexpected is good in theory, the practical application was completely wrong.”
The Decatur Daily obtained the video Thornton referenced in his statement. It shows an apparent simulated medical emergency — a man lays facedown on a bathroom floor with his pants down around his thighs. The handle of a plunger appears to protrude from the man’s backside, although it isn’t actually lodged in him.
A man who appears to be an instructor stands in the left of the frame and films on his phone as four recruits enter the room. As the recruits decide how to respond to the simulated injury, some in the video struggle to contain their laughter. One man wears a Decatur Fire jacket, while another man wears a shirt that reads Alabama Fire College. Another man, apparently playing the role of a bystander, wears a shirt that reads Fire Marshal. “He just really likes plungers,” the latter tells the recruits.
“Training scenarios like this should never have occurred and will not be permitted to happen again,” Thornton said. “It was wrong. Even though the DFR Command Staff should have never let this happen, it did and now that we are aware, we are taking the appropriate action.”
The video depicts a “completely different” recruit class than the current one, according to Thornton. He said it was filmed during training earlier this year.
Thornton confirmed that three recruits dropped out last week, although he doesn’t yet know if the dropouts are related to the current investigation. On Tuesday evening, he said the Fire College had cleared the department of all major charges but there were some small changes that needed to be made. He said recruit school would resume Wednesday morning.
Earlier Tuesday, Thornton said it was common to lose some recruits during training. “I really don’t know what brought (the investigation) on, other than the fact that I know the Fire College got some allegations of some things that we were doing at our recruit school that we weren’t supposed to be doing,” Thornton said.
All firefighters in Alabama must receive their certification through the Alabama Fire College, according to Thornton. All certification courses, such as recruit school, must teach a curriculum approved by the Alabama Firefighters’ Personnel Standards and Education Commission. The Commission ensures the efficient operation of the Fire College. The Fire College has the authority to revoke a training center’s certification, Thornton said.
A spokeswoman for the Fire College said they had not released a statement about the investigation on Tuesday and did not respond to further inquiries.
“The Fire College comes up here to open the school and talk to the recruits about what’s going to go on and we know what the rules are, what we have to do,” Thornton explained. “And then, multiple times during the recruit school, which is weeks long, they have a regional coordinator that comes and checks on everything to make sure everything is going good, and we’ve never had any issues in the past.”
Thornton said Fire College representatives on Monday interviewed recruits one-on-one. On Tuesday, they interviewed DFR staff.
“This is a lengthy process that is being completed for both the Alabama Fire College and Decatur Fire/Rescue in order to obtain as much of the information concerning the investigation as possible,” Thornton said.
The investigation comes just as the appeal hearing for Kevin Jackson, a DFR lieutenant who was double demoted in June, is set to resume on Wednesday. Among the allegations against Jackson are that he refused to participate in training that he didn’t find useful.
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