Cites Firefighters Who Contributed To Delayed Response
The city of Visalia, CA is taking disciplinary action against
four firefighters in the wake of a January 13 plane crash just shy
of the city's airport.
As Aero-News reported, it
took nearly four hours for firefighters to locate the wreckage of a
Piper Twin Comanche (file photo of type, above) that went down
with four onboard approximately 400 feet short of the runway. An
eyewitness reported the accident between 6:30 and 6:45 pm. Bernie
and Betty Sinor and their two granddaughters died in the
accident.
Three of the four firefighters cited in the city report were
working on the night of the accident. Fresno TV station ABC-30 says
the city accuses those on duty of choosing not respond to the
reported accident.
Fire engineer Shane Yoder, firefighter Thomas Jimenez, Captain
John Wafford and Battalion Chief Charles Norman all contributed to
the four hour delay in response time to the plane crash, according
to the city's report.
"It doesn't appear that anything was done intentionally. That's
not the purpose of our review," said city attorney Alex Peltzer.
"Our purpose of the review is to make sure that personnel did their
jobs as they were required to do."
The report says eyewitness Geoff Ludlow saw the airplane go down
at approximately 6:30 that evening -- and that he immediately went
to the fire station to report the accident. He spoke with Shane
Yoder, who was standing outside the station.
Yoder eventually told Captain Wafford -- who then chose not to
respond. It was only when emergency crews, summoned by the airport
manager at 9:30 pm, arrived that firefighters discovered the
wreckage.
Ludlow told ABC-30 he can't believe it took firefighters so long
to respond to the scene.
"I flew like a crazy down there and they said, 'Well, we didn't
have a report,' and I said, well it just happened," Ludlow said. "I
said someone should check it out and they said, 'We'll send someone
down to check it out.' And then I read in the paper they didn't
find it until 10:30pm, until emergency crews showed up."
A lawyer for one of the firefighters says it was simply an error
of judgement, adding the firefighters DID look for the
accident.
"They didn't' see any
smoke, they didn't see any fire, they didn't see anything that
alerted them," said lawyer Richard Rumery. "For the city to say the
fire captain did not uphold his duties is absurd."
Rumery added firefighters didn't believe Ludlow, because
firefighters say he was acting 'strangely'.
Many of the firefighters are planning to appeal the city's
disciplinary actions. Battalion Chief Norman was reprimanded, and
Captain Wafford announced he will be retiring.
The NTSB Preliminary Report makes no mention of the delay in
rescue crews arriving onscene. The delay in response time appears
to have made no difference to the survival of the plane's
occupants, however, as an autopsy report indicates all four died
immediately on impact.