Seattle Fire Dept. employees may have falsified COVID-19 vaccine compliance

Seattle Fire Department employees may have falsified information on their COVID-19 vaccination cards to suggest they had been vaccinated for the virus in compliance with city mandates, when they were, in fact, not.

An investigation commissioned by the city of Seattle and SFD found in April that Fire Department employees may have taken blank, authentic vaccination cards issued by the Centers for Disease Control from a closed clinic in 2021. But the investigator, Jennifer Parda-Aldrich, said she was unable to make “any conclusive findings.”

The city and SFD launched the investigation after messages sent by then-Deputy Chief Tom Walsh’s city-issued mobile phone via the encrypted Signal Messenger app were obtained through a public records request in 2024 by Rose Terse on behalf of the nonprofit public information organization “MuckRock.” PubliCola first reported the findings of the investigation.

SFD does not consider the results of the investigation to be “conclusive facts showing that employees falsified their vaccine cards,” spokesperson Kim Schmanke said. The department “cannot take personnel actions without factual findings,” she said.

The investigation is considered closed, Schmanke said, but “if any new information comes to light, the department will take appropriate follow-up action.”

After COVID-19 vaccinations were rolled out, then-City Mayor Jenny Durkan issued an executive order in August 2021, mandating all city employees be fully vaccinated. Over 90% of employees got vaccinated and continued to work, but more than 500 received or applied for religious or medical exemptions and were placed on leave. The Seattle Police Department led with the most employees on leave at the time, with SFD amassing the fourth most.

A group of former SFD employees twice sued the city, their chief and others, alleging the city never planned to accommodate their requests for vaccine accommodations for their religious beliefs.

Messages from now-retired Deputy Chief Walsh in 2021 suggested there was a system through which SFD employees got their authentic vaccination cards, Parda-Aldrich found. In chains of Signal messages involving Walsh published in the investigation, Walsh and a now-retired lieutenant seem to refer to the vaccination card system in the terms of dealing “art.”

In one text chain, Walsh asked the lieutenant if a specific person had gotten “a piece of art from him.”

“One thing about my art dealings is that it is totally Anonymous,” the lieutenant wrote.

“Well I am asking out of curiosity,” Walsh replied. “What you should wonder is why I’m asking. I couldn’t pick this guy out of the police lineup, but I know that somebody’s done some artwork for him. If it’s you, you should tell him to keep his (expletive) mouth shut …”

“Wasn’t me, and I appreciate you looking out Yes I would have a sit down with him,” the lieutenant wrote, adding it was important people know “it” can be done “in a discreet way.”

In another chain, the lieutenant asked Walsh for relevant contact information for his “art” and an address for the deputy chief and his son, a SFD firefighter. Neither Walsh nor the lieutenant could be reached during the investigation.

In another exchange, Walsh texts with a city information technology professional who feared he would be terminated over his request for a vaccine exemption. The deputy chief appeared to offer him help get a vaccination card, likening the operation to being offered “counterfeit” money that is “in fact, legal tender.” When interviewed, the IT professional denied he understood that to be the meaning of Walsh’s message.

One SFD employee who was a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the city offered an explanation as to how officials got their hands on blank vaccination cards. He told Parda-Aldrich he heard secondhand that a firefighter took the blank cards from a vaccination site that was run and later closed by SFD, then later sold them.

The firefighter said he declined an offer for one of the vaccination cards that he was told he could fill out with falsified vaccine information. He posited that 10% of SFD employees likely took that offer and submitted fraudulent documentation. The investigation found one or more SFD employees may have gotten those blank vaccination cards.

Sarah Smith, deputy director of policy and operations for the mayor’s office, told Parda-Aldrich that registration technicians with the city verified vaccination primarily on a “system of trust.”

The technicians relied mostly on the “system of trust,” wherein they would review a submitted vaccination card to ensure it had the correct data, including the employee’s name, and if they had two doses documented, Smith said in the investigation. No further “checking” occurred to ensure the vaccination documentation was real. Technicians could verify by accessing vaccination records with the state, but the employee would have to consent, which not many did.

A spokesperson from the city of Seattle deferred The Times’ questions about the operation to SFD.

During her investigation, Parda-Aldrich also found Walsh likely communicated with plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the city and others with the intention of helping them succeed in their litigation.

More messages sent by Walsh suggest the then-interim director of the Community Safety/Communications Center Department sent an email to a staff member regarding the city’s process for granting religious accommodations with the intention to provide the internal information to Walsh, who could then send it to the plaintiffs. The interim director said he sent the email out of concern that masses of employees would be denied accommodation requests.