Pullman Firefighters Claim Management Crisis Letter To City Lists 27 Complaints Against Chief Patrick Wilkins

Pullman firefighters have sounded the alarm about what they see as a growing management crisis in their department.

The firefighters’ union forwarded a vote of no confidence letter to the city of Pullman alleging mismanagement of department operations by Chief Patrick Wilkins.

City Supervisor John Sherman said the letter will be considered, but he said he’s “very pleased with the direction the department is headed.”

The union letter cites 27 complaints against the chief - from his not knowing how to reset a fire alarm going off at a local school to a general lack of procedures that led the state Department of Labor and Industries to issue 12 safety citations in late July.

Firefighters are concerned about outdated operating procedures, lack of training and a series of communication problems at recent emergency calls, including the May 3 riot at Washington State University, according to the letter.

“It has reached a point where the members of this department can no longer tolerate the leadership of this department,” wrote union president Chris Gorton. “It is our duty to tell you we have no confidence in the ability of Chief Wilkins to accomplish the day-to-day operations or emergency response in a manner deserving of the citizens of Pullman.”

The Pullman Fire Department has 19 employees, including two administrators, a secretary, four captains and 12 firefighters. Sixteen of the 19 are members of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1892. The vote of no confidence was unanimous.

Wilkins did not return phone calls Tuesday. The Labor and Industries report cited 12 violations that the city must rectify by December. The problems included lack of disinfection procedures, poor maintenance of air-purifying respirators and failure to have the fire station inspected. Labor and Industries officials also have raised concerns about poor operating procedures for fire captains and shift commanders handling emergency scenes.

The department’s current manual contains no guidelines for responding to violence or civil unrest, for example.

The union letter alleges Wilkins showed a “lack of safety awareness” during the WSU riot when he decided to let unprotected police ride on top of a fire truck as it moved through the rioting crowd to put out a bonfire.

Labor and Industries also cited a lack of training for interior-structure firefighting and rope rescues.

“This isn’t on par with misplaced library books or potholes in the streets,” firefighter Richard Wesson wrote in an open letter to Pullman citizens earlier this summer. “People’s lives balance on how well and how fast we are able to do our job.”

Critical time was lost during a May chlorine leak on College Hill because no guidelines detailed who to call for assistance, according to firefighters. Eventually, officials called the Lewiston Fire Department to dispatch a team to the site.

On June 1, firefighters were called to rescue a man who had fallen from an upper part of a grain elevator and still needed to be brought down from the elevator with rope and an aerial ladder.

Despite having the proper equipment, firefighters had not been trained in rope rescue and felt at risk during the precarious rescue that lasted 2-1/2 hours, according to the union.

Negotiations between the union and the city on Friday failed to resolve disputes over the chief, vacation scheduling and plans to hire three new employees on a 50-hour work week.

In a letter to City Council members Tuesday, firefighter Richard Wesson urged action since the administration “has had years to head off this showdown.”

“My sincere hope is that the council does not underestimate, as does the administration, the scope and gravity of the current crisis in the fire department and the overwhelming popularity of the vote of no confidence.”

Sherman said he did not believe the problems cited by the union resulted in major safety risks to Fire Department employees or Pullman citizens. But city officials do plan to address each of the violations in the Labor and Industries report, he said.

“We want to have a safe working environment,” he said.